Try Again
by OriginallyImperfect
Summary: Taylor and Troy haven't talked eachother since that day he came back to her in college. Now, when a school reunion is taking place, will they finally close the gap in the family. CHAPTER 11 UP!
1. Chapter 1

**New story!! It took me a while to come up with a title but I finally came up with one. Enjoy it and I promise to finish my other stories don't worry, although I think I might just cut destination love off 'cos I'm not really feeling it that much.**

Taylor looked up from her meal and smiled at the young girl running towards her.

"Mama, here's your mail." The little girl smiled innocently and Taylor gave in. She hoisted her up onto her lap and took the mail from her.

"Thank you, baby" she said, kissing the girls soft cheek which was mainly covered by her curly, chestnut **(im stuck on colours for brown)** locks. She definitely was gonna grow up to be a heart breaker.

She looked through the mail and sighed heavily. Nothing but bills. Bill. Bill. Letter from Sharpay. Letter from East High. Bill. WAIT! East High? Why would they be sending Taylor a letter if she graduated 4 years back? She immediately ripped the letter open and read it.

"Miss Mckessie, blah blah blah, invited to the class of 2009 reunion!" Taylor smiled and carried on reading the letter. "Other attendees include:" Taylor read the other attendees and thought about all the times they each had together.

"Ryan Evans." Taylor's grin grew wider as she remembered the boy who helped her discover the amount of talent she had just in time for the winter musical.

'"_RYAN!!" called a blonde who was obviously becoming impatient. Ryan dragged himself towards her and sighed._

"_What now, Sharpay?" He said with a clipboard in hand and an ear mic in tact. _

"_Where's Taylor? She was meant to arrive here a couple of hours ago for the dress rehearsal but she's still not here!" Ryan's eyes grew bigger as Sharpay talked. His musical was not going to crash and burn. Not for _anyone_. He handed Kelsi the clipboard and ran to the one place he knew he could try to find Taylor: Science lab. _

_He stopped when he saw Taylor singing to herself while sitting on a stool. He approached her slowly and sat down next to her. Feeling his presence, she decided to speak._

"_I'm not gonna do it. As much as you guys have encouraged me to- I can't."_

"_Why not Taylor?"_

"_I'm not Gabriella, Ryan. I can't sing like her, can't act like her, so why try?"_

"_Taylor, we don't need you to be Gabriella- or Minnie. We need you to be __**(I don't know the play they were doing so I'm making this up) **__Taylor, or better yet – Evangeline." Taylor looked up at Ryan and smiled. _

"_Lemme guess. Shar is angry at me." She said, tightening the scarf round her so it covered her bare shoulders._

"_Of course. She's complaining because good parts were wasted and you would be throwing it away if you didn't show up. But now you can shut her up." He said standing up and extending his arm. Taylor shook her head rapidly._

"_I'm still not doing it, Ry. As I said before, I can't sing _or _act."_

"_Taylor. If you couldn't do any of those things then you wouldn't have been chosen to get the second lead role. Taylor I know for a fact that you can sing."_

"_And my acting."_

"_We'll work on that…" he said playfully, but it got a smile out of Taylor. Ryan repeated his action from before and Taylor placed her hand in his._

"_Now let's go get 'em Evangeline." Taylor smiled and he pulled her into a hug._

"_Thank you, Ry." _

"_No problem." He said before they ran towards the theatre to get ready for the show.'_

She smiled at the memory and took another bite out of her meal.

"Mommy, who's that?" Her daughter asked, pointing to a name on the sheet.

"That is Kelsi Evans- wow they got married!"

"Who got married?" Her daughter asked, adjusting herself so that she could easily fall asleep in that position. Unfortunately for her, Taylor noticed and wrapped her arms around her baby.

"Ari** (short for Aries)**, come on let's go sleep." Ari squirmed in her mother's grip but soon gave up sleeping and shutting her eyes. Taylor tucked her in and kissed her soft head.

"You look more and more like your father everyday." She muttered before closing the door and heading back downstairs. She took her meal to the TV and laid it on the coffee table. She switched the TV on and grabbed the letter again.

"Kelsi Evans." She remembered the time where both her and Kelsi were having problems and only had each other.

'_Kelsi was knocking at one of her closest friends door, hoping for an answer. Suddenly the door burst open and Taylor stood there. Tear stained cheeks and tissues in her hand. Kelsi allowed herself in and the 2 immediately enveloped each other in a hug. They pulled back and laughed at themselves._

"_Look at us." Cried Kelsi. "We're crying because all of our friends ditched us to go to the same holiday and now were crying when we could be enjoying ourselves." Taylor wiped her eyes and smiled aswell. Kelsi was right. Sitting around and moping wasn't going to help. _

"_Come on, let's go to the park. Or go to the beach. Something! Anything that takes our minds off of them and their backstabbing selves." Kelsi giggled and brought up her plastic bag._

"_I was thinking more along the lines of movie, popcorn, ice cream and…"_

"_SLEEPOVER!!" They squealed in unison and jumped up and down like little kids instead of the 15-year olds they were meant to be._

"_Come on, let's go upstairs and we can start with 'John Tucker Must Die.' __**(Don't own)**__ Love that film!!" Taylor said before rushing upstairs'_

She laughed at herself but continued reading. "Jason Cross." Grinning wider because of the stupid boy, she remembered that day when he found out he was going to graduate.

'"_YESS!!!" Jason screamed, running around and hugging random people. Taylor and the rest of the gang watched, amused. Kelsi laughed and giggled when he picked her up and Sharpay gave him a hug back._

"_You did it, man." Ryan said patting his back, Jason over reacted though and gave him a bear hug. Taylor ran over to him and enveloped him in a hug that seemed to last hours._

"_I'm so proud of you Jason! I guess those late night study sessions paid off after all!" Taylor stated proudly. Jason didn't seem to pull her down until his own girlfriend approached them._

"_I graduated baby!" He screamed before pulling her into a long hug.'_

That day shall be remembered. She looked down at the list and smiled.

"Gabriella Danforth. Everyone's gotten married." She thought back to the day that Gabriella made that phone call.

'_A groggy Taylor turned on her side, trying her hardest to ignore the ringing of her cell phone. Finally giving in, she picked it up and put it to her ear._

"_Hello?" She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face… as if that would help her get up. A loud squeal was let out on the other side of the phone and Taylor nearly fell out of bed. _

"_TAYLOR ANN MCKESSIE! YOU ARE GOING TO KICK YOURSELF FOR NOT AGREEING TO COME AND SEE ME!"_

"_Why? Something happen?" Taylor said in a sarcastic tone._

"_Something very awesome, that I know is gonna make you happy."_

"_Chad FINALLY cut his hair!" Gabriella laughed and continued._

"_No. But it involved Chad. He…"_

"_Proposed. Yeah, I know." Taylor said dully. Gabriella was at a loss for words. She expected something more like 'Omigosh! Gabi! We have to talk dress, shoes and colours!' _

"_What? How do you know?" Gabriella asked disappointment in her voice._

"_When you turn out to be best friends with your ex, it has its privileges." She confessed, still in a tired tone. "Gabi, can you call me back in like, I don't know, 24 hours. Or if you want to be a really good friend, 72." Gabriella laughed again._

"_I'll call you in an hour, Tay." Taylor slowly nodded her head but immediately got out of bed when she heard Ari's cries. "You better go take care of your baby, Tay." _

"_Are you judging my parental skills?" Taylor asked, slipping on her slippers and creeping to her daughters' room._

"_I'm just saying, look after my niece and tell her Aunty Gabi says hi."_

"_And uncle Chad." She heard from the distance. _

"_And uncle Chad." Gabriella repeated. Taylor nodded and picked up her daughter._

"_I'll talk to you later, Tay."_

"_Bye Gabs. Love you."_

"_Love you too." _

"_I actually meant Chad but okay." Taylor joked. She heard Gabriella gasp and she immediately fell into fits of laughter._

"_How would you feel if I said that to…?" Gabriella realised her mistake and quickly shut up. "Bye Tay." She quickly hung up the phone and left Taylor to cater to her daughter.'_

The last Taylor heard of him was that he had broken his leg so he had to sit out for the rest of his season but after that… nothing. It was mostly by choice because when other friends went to visit him or they accidentally bumped into him, he always asked about her and told them to tell her that he wanted to meet up so that they could talk or something. He just wanted to see her. Taylor brushed off that thought and skipped to the next name: Chad Danforth. Their break up was pretty bad but they remained close friends afterwards.

'_Taylor was pacing the room, unsure of what exactly her boyfriend of a year was saying. "So what you're saying is that there's someone else?" Taylor asked softly, trying not to raise her voice though she was angry. _

"_Taylor, I know that even you can see it. We've become distant. We're getting closer to other people and we're not…"_

"_NO! YOU'VE become distant! YOU'RE getting closer to other people. I've stuck by you in everything Chad Danforth. How can you just throw a year worth away like that? How? Because I know I can't!" Chad stood up and pulled her towards him and Taylor didn't fight because she was weak and confused._

"_Taylor. I love you and I always will. But I'm not in love with you. Not anymore. Not like I used to." Taylor sniffed and pushed him away but he just pulled her back into the same position._

"_So were over?" Chad nodded softly. _

"_I'm sorry." Taylor tightened her grip around him just to make the moment last longer._

"_1 whole year. Wow!" Taylor stated, thinking back to all they'd been through._

"_Taylor don't make me feel worse than I already do."_

"_Sorry. It's just… a year Chad. We made it to a year. I'm gonna be honest I didn't think we'd even make it to 6 months." Chad lifted his head off of hers and looked down at her._

"_What do you mean?" She looked up at him but then looked around her living room._

"_I mean, you're a jock and I'm a geek…"_

"_Hey! How many times have I told you not to use that word to describe yourself?" Even if they weren't together, he still cared. Taylor dropped what she was going to say and slid her head back down to its old position and Chad did the same._

"_I'll miss you." Taylor whispered, trying hard not to cry._

"_I'll miss you too."'_

Taylor remembered how angry she was when she found out that it was in fact another girl. Her best friend- Gabriella Montez. She became depressed for over a week and locked herself away. She looked down at the next name and her smile dropped. Troy Bolton. His name made her heart beat faster and she wasn't quite sure why.

She was ready to think about a memory they had when his name boomed through the TV.

"Troy Bolton hasn't been seen since last month and we know that all of you fans are worried. Our sources tell us that the 23 year old star has asked to take a break from basketball but not for good. All we know is that our leading basketball star is not in a good mood."

"Tell me something I don't know." Taylor muttered before switching the television off and heading for her bedroom.

+*+HSMHSMHSM+*+

Taylor woke up and sat comfortably in her bed. She tip toed downstairs and was surprised to see her daughter already up.

"Hey Ari. What are you doing up?" She questioned, reaching for her daughters favourite cereal.

"I couldn't sleep and then the phone rang."

"Ari, did you answer it?" She asked pouring herself and Aries a bowl of the cereal.

"Yes." She answered quietly and slowly.

"Well, who was it?"

"I don't know, he just said that you should call more often if you expect to eat at his restaurant ever again." She smiled gratefully when the bowl was pushed in front of her and she immediately dug in.

"Thank you, Aries." Taylor said in an attempt to make her daughter regain her manners. She stopped eating and looked up at her mother.

"Mommy, you're so polite." And she dug back into her food.

"You eat just like him too." Taylor muttered, before kissing Ari's cheek and telling her to stay put and watch some cartoons. She ran upstairs and took a shower, ready for her and Ari's trip down to Zeke's restaurant 'Z' and to drop her off at day care before she went to visit her mother like she always did on a Saturday.

Once both she and her daughter were ready for the day they left the house.

"Mommy, where are we going first?"

"First were going to go to Uncle Zeke's restaurant and then I'm going to drop you off at Nina's. Then when I pick you up we can go to Grandma's. How does that sound?" Aries liked the idea as she jumped up and down excitedly.

"That's great mommy!" Aries smiled at her mother and Taylor felt her heart warm up. She had her nose, her lips, her laugh but she had his eyes, his smile and his silliness. Taylor walked into the restaurant which wasn't as packed as it was in the night and walked up to the hostess Heather.

"Hey Taylor, hey cutie! Zeke and Sharpay are out back, they were just gonna go to your house to see you but now that you're here. Go ahead…" She smiled gratefully at Heather and carried Aries before walking to the garden out back.

"Why do I need to call you when I can make an entrance?" She stated walking down the stairs towards them. Sharpay was first to run over to her and she opened her arms out wide.

"Gimme my goddaughter!" Sharpay squealed, leaning towards Aries.

"Auntie Sharpay!" She screamed, trying to get to her.

"See she wants me! You don't want to be seen as evil in the child's eyes do you?" Taylor sighed heavily and handed her Aries. Taylor shook her head at her best friend and decided to ask Zeke a question that had been on her mind.

"Zeke, did you get a letter from East High?" Zeke kept his eyes on Sharpay and Aries when he answered.

"Yeah. We, um, got it this morning. Did you?"

"Yup!" Zeke nodded his head and took a deep breath in.

"Troy called me yesterday." Taylor looked down at this stage. What did he want? "He, um, said that he's gonna arrive in New Mexico tomorrow and he needed a place to stay." Taylor shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'And your point is…' "I told him he could stay over here. Until he has to go back." He rushed out, looking towards Sharpay for support. Taylor caught this and smiled warmly.

"Guys, just because I'm not talking to him, don't mean you have to follow." Sharpay walked towards Taylor, Aries still in hand and touched her shoulder.

"I knew you'd understand! That's why I scheduled dinner for all of us!" Taylor's breath caught her and she paused.

"Just you, me, Zeke and… um, Troy?" Sharpay nodded excitedly.

"And little Aries, of course." Aries giggled at the sound of her name. Taylor rubbed her forehead as if she had a massive headache.

"Great!" She said sarcastically before slumping onto the bench underneath her. "So if he's coming, when's Chad and Gabi coming?" Sharpay grabbed Aries hand and began to play with it.

"Next week. Chad has one more game which is on Wednesday so…" Zeke said, still staring at Sharpay's interactions with Aries. Taylor stood up and walked towards Sharpay and her daughter.

"Shar, I was gonna drop her off at the day care but… I think she'd like it better if I left her with aunty Sharpay." Sharpay squealed and lifted Aries up.

"You hear that! You're staying with _me_ today!" Aries let out a childish laugh and Taylor kissed her cheek before saying goodbye and leaving.

"Bye mommy! Love you!"

"I love you too!" Taylor called out. She gave Heather a smile and walked out.

'_24 more hours and he will be here. Oh God!'_ She thought before heading to her mother's house.

**Hope yuh enjoyed it. Before I had it as Troy and Taylor meet but… too early so imams build it up. Troy is gonna be introduced in the nxt chappie. R&R!!**

**TraylorxChaylor**

**xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanx for your reviews, I appreciate all of them and I hope I get some more. Weaker shall be updated next, so look out for that and WTYT is a Traylor, not Chaylor but Traylor. Just to clear that…**

Troy ducked into the car as a swarm of fans followed after him. That was his normal day: Wake up to get coffee, get chased, go to practise, still get chased, go to an interview or press conference and get chased on his way home. He never thought he would actually live out that lifestyle, well that's what his ex-best friend Chad used to say back in high school. His exact words were _'You think you're gonna be famous? How are things on planet You Wish?' _and then Troy would just laugh and carry on with whatever he was doing.

"Where to, Mr Bolton?" Troy threw his shades to the side and ruffled his hair.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that? Mr Bolton is my father. I am Troy." The driver nodded and turned his head. "Home. I need to do some packing anyway." He nodded his head again and drove towards Troy's mansion. On the way there, Troy could not help but thinking of all the responses people would give him. Zeke, Ryan and Gabriella seemed to be the only ones who talked to him. Chad and Sharpay had always been on his case so that was expected and then Taylor… She wouldn't even go near him if she had a choice. It was most probably because of that night in college, where he visited Taylor and ran away the night after. Yep, that was it. The driver pulled up to his house and stopped. Troy smiled warmly at the driver and stepped out to go inside his house.

He opened it and felt a breath of reassurance. His safe place. Where he would get rid of all his troubles. In anyway necessary… He jogged upstairs and threw his suitcase in the middle of his Super King bed. Rubbing a hand over his face, he began to pack.

Taylor rubbed her eyes from the long talk her mom had just had with her. It was the usual really. Let Troy know her secret, how she's doing, needing a boyfriend and what to do with her hair. Except this time she combined a few things and said: 'Why don't you and Troy talk things out and then maybe he can be the father Aries needed him to be. It will also do good for you, you need a boyfriend.' She stepped inside the restaurant and stopped in front of Heather.

"They're out back, feeding Aries."

"Thank you, Heather." Taylor walked towards the back but was stopped when Heather's arm reached out to grab her.

"Taylor, are you okay?" Taylor smiled and nodded,

"I'm just tired. I'm also pretty stressed but that's another story." Heather reluctantly nodded and let go which allowed Taylor to run towards the door. She crept up behind Aries, who was sitting on one of the benches, and tickled her.

"Mommy! Stop it!" she chorused, clenching in as tight as she could to stop her mother tickling her ticklish spots. Sharpay walked over to them and hugged Taylor.

"Tay, what's wrong?" she said, her voice full of concern. Taylor picked up Aries, rubbed her eyes and sighed.

"This is a bit much, Shar. If Troy is going to be here, how long can I keep this a secret?" She asked, lifting Aries when she said 'this'.

"Then don't. Tell him at the dinner, Tay. It's better to get things out in the open rather than bottling it up."

"I guess you're right, Shar."

"Besides, Aries needs her father, you can't not tell Troy just because you don't want to. That's not fair on Aries."

"Okay, I get it, Oprah." The 2 women shared a laugh before saying their goodbyes. "Tell Zeke I said goodbye."

"Bye Auntie Sharpay!"

"Bye, honey." Taylor and Aries walked out of the restaurant and towards her car so that they could go home. Parking her car, they made their way up to her apartment. She put Aries down and walked to the kitchen.

"So did you have fun at Auntie Sharpay's?" Aries nodded while switching on the TV to watch cartoons. Taylor smiled as her daughter adjusted her seat to watch Phineas and Ferb properly. "What do you want to eat, Ari?" At this moment, her daughter's head whipped round and her eyes brightened up.

"LASAGNE! With the really cheesy bits on top, mommy!"

"Lasagne it is then." Taylor got back to her cooking, but couldn't help but think of how the dinner would go. Would Troy even talk to her? Wait. She didn't want him to talk to her because she didn't want to talk to him. He abandoned her, but that's another story. Once the lasagne was done and she and Ari were eating, Aries dropped her fork on her plate and swallowed the piece of lasagne in her mouth.

"Mommy, can we go shopping tomorrow?"

"Why, Ari? You have enough things already." She replied, taking a sip of juice.

"Yes, but I want to look nice for when daddy comes." Taylor nearly choked at her words. How did she know Troy was coming? And how does she know that Troy is her daddy? Sure, they had talked about Aries's father, but they never actually got to talking about who it was. They usually stopped it at 'you're daddy loves you and you'll see him soon enough.' She never expected that soon enough was now. She was planning on telling Troy in about 5 years (8 Tops), when Aries was 8/11, so that maybe she would understand it better.

"Baby, who told you that your father was coming tomorrow?" She questioned, keeping her eye on her daughter.

"Well, Auntie Sharpay said that tomorrow, I would finally meet my daddy. I am going to meet him, right mommy?" Taylor looked into her daughters hazel eyes and knew that her daughter had to finally meet him, so she nodded.

"That's right. At dinner tomorrow."

"So can we go shopping?" Taylor giggled at how her daughter didn't give up and so she shook her head.

"I'm sure we'll find you something in your closet. Now hurry up and eat, you have to go to sleep." Ari sighed but did as she was told. Once Taylor had tucked her daughter in, she decided to call Sharpay and ask her exactly why she told Aries. No answer.

"Avoiding me won't help, Shar." She said to herself before deciding to hit the hay herself and call Sharpay the next morning.

In the morning, Taylor awoke to her ring tone 'Flaws and All', it was always her favourite ever since high school. A memory of the song suddenly flashed in her head, almost making her forget that her phone was ringing. Sighing, she reached for it and slid it open.

"Hello?" she said groggily.

"Sorry I missed your call, needed to say something?" she asked.

"Actually yes." Taylor responded, sitting up in her bed. "Who gave you the right to tell Ari that Troy was coming? I was going to handle it." There was a short silence on the phone and Taylor knew it was because Sharpay was switching rooms.

"No you were not, Tay! I did you a favour; at least the girl won't be confused when she sees him tonight."

"Whatever, Shar. Next time, just let me handle my own business." She got out of her bed and into Aries' room which was empty, surprisingly.

"Taylor, I have to go. I have company, so I'll see you at 6, bye!" Before Taylor could answer, Sharpay had hung up. She descended down the stairs and wasn't exactly surprised when she saw her daughter attempting to watch another episode of Total Drama Island.

"Ari, how many times have I told you not to watch that show?" Aries nearly jumped at the sound of her mother's voice so she quickly changed the channel.

"Sorry mommy." She moaned, jumping out of her seat to greet her mother with a hug. Every time she did that or pulled the puppy face, Taylor would crack.

"It's okay. How about I make you some pancakes and then I can do your hair so it looks nice for tonight." Ari nodded and slid her hand into Taylor's.

"Mommy, can you make me look like a princess?"

"Of course."

**5.30pm**

Troy stood pacing in the guest room that Zeke and Sharpay had made for him, looking down at his outfit. He had arrived there last night and they all had a great time reminiscing about old times, even though Sharpay kind of gave him a cold shoulder at times. He sighed and threw the coral blue tie to the side. Just then, Zeke entered and looked him up and down.

"Sharpay said we better leave if we want to have any seats."

"But I thought you owned the restaurant, dude."

"Doesn't mean all of my customers can't finish all the seats." Troy laughed and grabbed the green tie that was lying on his bed. Trying it on, he sighed in frustration and threw it to the side. "Oh yeah, Sharpay said that you have to wear a purple tie." After he said that, he made his exit, leaving Troy to put on his purple tie.

HSMHSMHSMHSM

Taylor looked at the dress, confused. Why had Sharpay suggested she wore that dress, she knew that Taylor didn't like it. She sighed in anger and grabbed it so she could get dressed. When she finished, she added some dangling earrings and purple and gold hoops to go with her gold heels. She had curled her hair and so it stopped at her heavy bust. She smiled to herself and came downstairs to get Ari, who was already dressed. Taking one last look at herself in the mirror, she smoothed her mauve halter neck dress, which stopped just above her knee. It didn't reveal too much, but it was a bit tight, therefore it added that bit more sexiness. Ari heard her mother's shoes and jumped out of the chair. Her lilac princess dress bouncing as she ran. Taylor grabbed both her and Ari's coats, took her clutch bag and headed towards the car. Taylor stopped when the light went red and turned back to face her daughter.

"Now Ari, I want to make a few things clear with you." Ari nodded and Taylor continued. "When we are at the dinner, don't call daddy… daddy. Call him… Troy." Ari nodded again and began playing with her dress before shouting.

"GREEN!"

"What?" Taylor was caught off guard by her daughter, but then turned back around and realised the light had changed colour. She immediately drove down the street and made a quick turn left, still going straight until she could see the big 'Z' sign, where she turned another left into the car park. Unbuckling herself, she breathed in deep for a second. She was not ready for this. No way. You can't just not see someone for, what? 3 years and expect to just be all normal and cool with them again. Taylor shook her head as her breathing became shallow.

"Mommy, can we go? I'm getting hungry." Taylor was brought out of her thoughts by her daughter and she took a big gulp. After getting out of her car, she went round to open the door for her daughter and get her out. Walking towards the restaurant, Taylor could feel a big knot in her stomach, tightening up as they got nearer. As they were walking in, she could already see Sharpay's blonde locks twisting around as she turned and searched the room. Heather watched as Taylor unsteadily entered the restaurant. After listening in to one of Sharpay and Taylor's many stories about high school and college, she had come to knowing the back story between Troy and Taylor. Probably every little detail. Heather reached for Taylor's arm and looked at her.

"You don't have to do this, Taylor. If you're not ready, you don't have to." Taylor took in her words and nodded. _'She's right. I don't have to do this. Oh shit, here comes Sharpay. Too late now, Taylor. You have to go through with this. Unless…' _When Sharpay approached Taylor, Taylor shook her head softly.

"I'm not doing it, Shar. I'm not ready."

"What do you mean you're not ready? Tay, this is exactly what I'm talking about." She noticed a group of people entering and moved herself, Tay and Ari to the side. "You are putting your feelings ahead of Ari's. She wants to meet her father. So _don't_ be the one who stands in front of that, Tay." She harshly whispered, deliberately making Taylor feel bad. Taylor sighed and cocked her head to the side. Without another word, she signalled for Sharpay to lead the way and hung up both her and Ari's coats. Walking behind Sharpay, she smoothed her dress one more time and looked around the room. When Sharpay came to a stop, Zeke and Troy both stood up. Taylor went to Zeke first. She hugged him and said 'hi' then little Aries received a big cuddle. Zeke sat Aries down beside him and Sharpay took her seat. Suddenly, the table grew silent. Taylor looked anywhere but Troy and Troy, the complete opposite. My, how Miss Taylor Mckessie –she was still a Miss, right? - had grown. In 3 years, she had developed a curvier figure than when he had seen her in college, her hair had grown longer and she was taking care of it well and her skin, she still looked after it well. Her chocolate brown eyes were still exactly the same- full of life.

Taylor looked Troy up and down once more. All the times she had seen him on TV, he didn't look half as good as he did now. Maybe it was because she didn't have HD TV. He was still in good shape, from what she could tell and his floppy hair was still there. Then there were his eyes. Taylor never noticed this before, but Troy's eyes were actually sapphire, not electric blue. She could've gotten lost in them gladly. God, how much she loved those eyes! They continued to stare at each other, taking in how much the other had changed, before Zeke coughed. This was a signal for both of them to greet each other. Troy let out his hand for her to shake; unless she wanted to do more then he'd happily accept. Taylor rolled her eyes and sat down next to Ari. Yes, she was acting immature and yes, she had been holding a grudge for 3 years and yes, Troy looked goddamn sexy in his suit. But Taylor was still pissed at Troy, and Troy was not about to win her over with that charming smile of his. Not this time…

**A/N: If you have not read the mediator, I kinda took a quote from the last book; it's in the first paragraph on my story, so Meg Cabot owns that saying. **

**R&R, thank you very much! **

**Xx**

**TraylorxChaylor**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 already? Wow, time goes by fast… Thank you to my reviewers from last week. I'll mention you at the end…**

Troy slid his arm back to his side and took the seat that he had been sitting on earlier, which just so happened to be Taylor's'. When she saw Troy take the seat next to her, Taylor slightly scooted her chair towards Ari, which resulted in Sharpay sending an evil glare down her way. Taylor rolled her eyes and scooted her chair back to its original position, placing the smile back onto Sharpay's face.

"Okay, I'm so hungry. I don't think I can wait any longer." Troy truthfully said, rubbing his belly and chuckling nervously for emphasis.

"You never could." Taylor mumbled to herself, hoping that no one heard. Unfortunately, the whole table heard and Sharpay was glaring at Taylor, whilst Troy was just staring at her disappointedly and Zeke just point blank looked at her. She instantly regretted her words when she saw Troy's face. She closed her mouth and covered her face with the menu, totally embarrassed. Just then, a male waiter, Jay, approached them and asked them what they'd like to order. Sharpay and Zeke ordered the same meal as they knew what the best food was. Troy chose anything from the menu, and even though everyone gave her weird looks, Taylor got a salad. And little Ari got her favourite: Lasagne. Their meal came within 20 minutes and they all dug in. Taylor prepared Ari so she could eat properly while Troy just looked on, questions filling his head. _'She looks just like Taylor. I wonder who the father is. Does that mean that Taylor's married? She's so good with kids. Wow I missed out.' _

"Tay, the girl is fine. Let her eat!" Sharpay ordered, digging into her salmon. Taylor sighed and pulled away from Ari, who was staring longingly at the lasagne. This made Taylor giggle, and it instantly brought memories back into Troy's head when he was the one that would make her laugh. Taylor turned her body back around and began to eat. "So Troy, what have you done over the last 3 years?" Sharpay asked, mouthful of salad and salmon put together. She obviously knew what he had done; I mean he was in papers everyday. She also couldn't care less because she was just trying to make conversation. Troy leaned back a little and swallowed.

"Well, after, um, college," he looked straight at Taylor who immediately stared at him before he continued. "I was seen by some Lakers scouts who said I had the potential and then my career took off from there. I've been all around the world, played nearly every team in the NBA…"

"Screwed some chicks…" Taylor murmured to herself, once again hoping that no one heard. Sharpay gave Taylor a small kick from across the table which made Taylor yelp. Troy once again gave her that same look and Taylor ducked her head down and resumed eating.

"I'm sorry for her behaviour, Troy. Carry on…" Taylor rolled her eyes, thinking _'Who are you, my mother?'_

"It's okay. I mean she is right. Women throw themselves at me and I catch them." He responded, that signature lopsided grin coming out. Zeke laughed and fist pounded Troy, which earned Zeke a painful nudge from Sharpay. To ask for forgiveness, Zeke planted a hungry kiss on Sharpay's rosy lips, and she happily accepted. When the kiss deepened, Troy and Taylor rolled their eyes, even though 4 years ago, that was them. They pulled apart and couldn't keep the smiles off their faces. It didn't help either that Ari yelled "DONE!" and her mouth was covered in sauce. Taylor sighed and wiped her daughters mouth clean while the rest of the adults laughed at Aries's antics.

"Who's up for dessert?" Zeke asked after checking that everyone was done. Taylor raised her hand in front of her bosom.

"No dessert for me, I'm watching my weight." Sharpay scoffed and Troy began to think. _'She never was a dessert person.'_

"Please Tay. There's nothing to watch, you're in good shape!"

"Yeah, you are." Troy added and he watched as Taylor turned her head away in an attempt to stop people realising that she was blushing. Even after all these years, Troy's compliments were still the best kind.

"Choccie cookies, mummy!" Ari demanded, using her nickname for Zekes' famous chocolate chip cookies. The whole table smiled warmly and Zeke couldn't keep the grin off of his face.

"At least someone likes my cookies…" He said referring to how Taylor refused dessert. Taylor raised her hands as if she was innocent.

"You know I love your cookies, Zeke! Im just trying to keep my figure." She chuckled, staring at Sharpay the whole time because of what she had said earlier. Sharpay rolled her eyes in complete annoyance.

"I am not going to repeat myself, Tay." Taylor giggled and just then Jay came up to them. They all ordered the cookies, except for Troy, who ordered a double fudge chocolate cake. When their meals arrived, Taylor couldn't stop herself from staring at Troy's slice. Troy saw her and smirked.

"Want some?" Taylor bitterly laughed and sipped on her rich wine.

"Only if I want a cavity." Troy shrugged and slipped a piece into his mouth. He moaned and groaned, knowing that it would drive Taylor crazy. Taylor peered from his cake to his mouth, her mouth watering at the sight. And it wasn't just because of the cake… Troy wasn't making things any easier for Taylor to be mad at him. The way he moved his mouth and moaned brought Taylor back to memories of the good times they had together.

"Are you sure you don't want any? Last chance…" Taylor looked down at the cake one more time before admitting defeat and nodding her head. Troy grinned and took a forkful of the cake. "Say ahh." Taylor looked at him as if he were crazy. "Do you want it or not?" She grunted and opened her mouth wide. As soon as she did, Troy slid the fork into her mouth and slid it out, leaving a trail of chocolate on the fork. Taylor closed her eyes in delight as she savoured the tastes. Not only could she taste the richness of the chocolate, but she could also taste Troy as he had put his mouth on it earlier. Troy's grin got wider as he watched her moan in pleasure at the flavours. Taylor instantly stopped when she remembered that her daughter was still in the room. She abruptly opened her eyes and cleared her throat which made Troy cough and laugh at the same time. She felt her cheeks heat up and she began to play with the spoon that she had not used yet as some sort of distraction of what had just happened. "We can share if you want." Troy said, pushing his plate towards her.

"Are you sure, I mean you don't have to?" Troy nodded and Taylor didn't have to be told twice. She dug into the cake and Troy took mouthfuls after Taylor did. They all conversed while finishing their dessert, occasionally laughing here and then. When there was only enough cake left for one person, Taylor pushed the plate to Troy. "Have it. I'm full." Lies.

"No you're not. Chocolate cake is your favourite. Finish it." He answered, pushing the plate back towards Taylor. Taylor softly pushed the plate towards him before protesting.

"Troy seriously, I didn't order it, making it rightfully yours. So _you_ finish it." Troy gently pushed the plate back towards Taylor.

"Taylor. I am giving it to you. So just say yes and eat it." Taylor got frustrated and forcefully pushed the plate back to him.

"Since when did you start telling me what to do, Bolton?" Troy, trying his best to be patient, gave the plate one more push.

"Taylor." He said calmly. "I am offering you the last piece of cake. So please take it." Taylor was about to protest before Sharpay interrupted them.

"For god's sake, I'LL EAT IT!!" she pulled the plate in her direction and shoved the last piece into her mouth. "There? You two happy?" she questioned, her mouth full with cake. Taylor sighed in frustration and then turned her body to face Ari. _'Always the stubborn one.' _Troy thought, before placing his hands in front of him on the table.

"So are you guys ready to leave?" Zeke asked, pushing his chair back to leave room for him to get out. Troy wiped his mouth and threw his napkin in his plate, while Sharpay did the same.

"NO!" The adults turned their attention to the little 3 year old. "I haven't finished my cookies, mummy." Taylor got up from her chair when she saw their jackets coming. She got Aries' coat and put it on the infant before putting on her own. The rest of the table did the same and Taylor picked up her child.

"Well honey, you can eat it on the way home in the car. How about that?" Aries' nodded her head as Taylor bounced her up and down, causing her to giggle sweetly. Troy smiled at how Taylor handled the situation, along with all the other situations involving Aries that had took place that evening.

"So guys, Kelsi and Ryan are arriving on Monday, Jason and Georgia are arriving on Monday as well and Chad and Gabriella are arriving on Wednesday." They all nodded. They had heard this already.

"And then we'll all meet up at your house to have a 'Wildcat' barbeque. We know." Troy interrupted, almost reading everyone's mind. Sharpay stopped at her car and narrowed her eyes at Troy.

"Remember you're sleeping at my house for the next week or so." That was all Sharpay had to say and Troy was quiet. Taylor smirked and headed towards her own car. "Tay? Where are you going?" she questioned, looking towards Taylor's direction.

"I have to get home. Ari's bedtime has passed. I'll see you guys later."

"What? No hug?" Zeke inquired, reaching out with his arms.

"Please. I'll see you tomorrow." She laughed and then stepped into her car. She tried starting her car but nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing. _'Third time lucky.' _She thought, before starting again, she turned back towards the group who were watching her. She started it for the third time. Nothing. Stepping out of her car, she retrieved little Ari and they walked over to Sharpay, Zeke and Troy.

"Problem?" Sharpay asked, knowing exactly what was wrong.

"Um, my car won't start." She whispered, looking around the group, who were failing to hide smirks.

"Do you want me to drop you off?" Troy asked, pointing to his very expensive Porsche **(don't own)** and unlocking it. Taylor, caring for her daughters' health, didn't protest and so she just nodded her head. Taylor put Aries down and held the hand that wasn't holding a melting cookie.

"Come on, Ari. Were going in Troy's car." When Ari heard this, she tried her hardest to scoff down the rest of the cookie. Taylor saw her and stopped her hand from moving any more. "Sweetie, what are you doing?"

"Well, you said that we're not allowed to eat in other people's cars because we might leave crumbs." Taylor smiled and rubbed the top of her daughters head.

"Honey, I'm sure that Troy's okay with it. Right Troy?" she stared at Troy with a hopeful look. He grinned and nodded. "Alright. We'll see you guys tomorrow morning, when I come and pick up my car, alright?" Sharpay and Zeke nodded and Taylor and Ari hopped in. When Taylor was strapping herself in, she turned to Troy with a worried expression on her face. "What about Ari? She needs a booster seat. Wait; let me go get it…" Troy reached for her arm to stop her.

"Taylor, she'll be fine. We've strapped her in tightly, there's nothing to worry about."

"But…"

"Tay…" hearing him use her nickname flooded thoughts inside Taylor's head. This was going to be some ride…

**What do you think? This was going to be longer but I decided it would be better to keep you guys waiting. R&R.**

**IVE BEEN HACKED PEOPLE. SO IF THEY CHANGE ANYTHING, IT'S NOT ME!!!**

**TraylorxChaylor not SHAME 01.**

**xx**


	4. Chapter 4

"…Just calm down okay?" Taylor sighed and nodded before slumping back into her seat. She looked around Troy's car, smiling at Ari when her vision past her, admiring the leather seats, how clean it was and the pine smell. She saw a radio and decided to switch it on.

'_You catch me when I fall_

_Accept me Flaws and All,_

_And that's why I love you…_

_Yes that's why I love you…'_

Both Taylor and Troy went silent as soon as the song played. Taylor looked down and Troy held onto his steering wheel a little tighter. Troy stopped at the lights and took this as his chance to sneak a look at Taylor. She also turned to look at him and the look in her eyes nearly made his heart stop. Once upon a time, that song had always made her smile and it was a declaration of her love for him. Now, that song was nothing but a memory of the love they once shared. A heartbreaking memory. It broke her. That night, he abandoned her and it cut deep into her. It messed with her physically and mentally. She was a wreck. Screaming at every one that got in her way and constantly crying…

'_Taylor sat on her couch, her back hunched and her knees pulled up. She was softly sobbing to herself and she kept repeating over and over that same phrase. "Why? I thought he loved me!" She was too caught up in her own world that she didn't notice the door open and close and a certain brunette walk in, followed by a blonde girl. They sat down next to her, one on each side, and wrapped an arm around her. "Why?" she asked, lifting her head up to show her friends the new distressed look she was sporting."I thought he loved me!" she exclaimed, tears streaming down her face. Gabriella let Taylor's head drop on her shoulder and she continued to rub her arm up and down, as did Sharpay. _

"_Taylor, he probably had a reason for leaving." Gabriella soothed, brushing Taylor's hair back. Taylor raised her head and glared at Gabriella._

"_NO! WHAT REASON COULD THAT POSSIBLY BE GABRIELLA?! HE CAME TO SEE ME, AND THEN HE JUST LEFT!" Taylor yelled, before returning to her hunched position. She lifted up her head and a small smirk appeared on her face even though inside that was the last thing she wanted to do. "I get it. He only came to have sex with me one last time before he left! Boy do I feel used!" Sharpay hated seeing her friend like this and knowing that it was from the boy that she had clearly threatened if he ever caused such pain to Taylor made her even angrier at Troy. Sharpay rubbed Taylor's back as she cried heavily into her chest _

"_Have you eaten anything today?" Taylor shook her head no and Sharpay was about to say something else when a song blasted through the room from Taylor's cell phone. _

'I'm a train wreck in the morning,

I'm a bitch in the afternoon,

Every now and then without warning,

I can be really mean towards you…

I'm a puzzle yes indeed,

Ever complex in every way,

And all the pieces aren't even in the box,

And yet,

You see the picture clear as day…

I don't know why you love me…

And that's why I love you...'

_Taylor grabbed the device and threw it across the room. She stood up and raced towards the shelf with pictures all over it. She took one look at the picture of her and Troy at the Senior Prom, smiling and holding onto each other, and she snapped. She grabbed that picture and sent it flying across her living room, making it land with a loud smash. She picked up another photo and stared at this one for much longer; their first date as a couple. They had been on many dates together before, but that was when they were double dating with Chad and Gabriella and their partners were Chad and Gabriella, not each other. Taylor took a sharp intake of breath before throwing it down onto the floor below her. She couldn't hold back anymore. Her anger had been building up and now it was being let out. She took a few more looks past the photos. Of her and Troy at the beach, Troy posing for her when they went to Disneyland as a fieldtrip at East High and the picture of the two at graduation. She screamed out as her arms knocked all the photos down and crashing onto the floor. "WHY?! I THOUGHT HE LOVED ME!" she screamed, now knocking over anything in sight. She finally stopped when she saw the blood on her arms. She leaned back on the shelf and slid down on the wall behind it, crying out in pain. "Why? I thought he loved me!" she cried, still crying and thumping her fists on her head. Sharpay and Gabriella ran to her and reached out for her arms. "DON'T touch me!" Taylor shouted, slowly getting up, ignoring the instant, sharp pain that passed through her arms. _

"_But Tay, look at your arms. Your bleeding heavily, come on; let us take you to the nurse's office." Sharpay pleaded, truly worried about her friend. Taylor just kept quiet and kept sobbing to herself as she slumped over towards her sofa before collapsing on top of it. "TAYLOR!" Sharpay and Gabriella gasped, running towards their friend and lifting her up. "Come on, we're taking you to the nurse's office." Taylor allowed them to lift her up and she just kept sobbing._

"_I thought he loved me, Shar. Gabi, you heard him say that, didn't you? He said he loved me!" They opened the door and walked out of it, headed for the nurse's office…'_

Taylor continued listening to that song before deciding to hit the button that went to the next station. "Taylor…" Troy began, but she raised a hand to stop him talking.

"Don't. Please." She pleaded before leaning back into her chair. Troy breathed out a sigh and continued driving, remembering where she used to live and following that path. As the DJ stopped talking another song came on.

'_There used to be a greying tower alone on the sea.  
You became the light on the dark side of me.  
Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill.  
But did you know,  
that when it snows,  
my eyes become large and  
the light that you shine can be seen…'_

Another song that reminded them of their once ever so strong love. This was the song that Troy sung towards the end of senior year at the Senior Talent Show. He sung it for Taylor to tell her just how much he loved her. Just like she sang on the same night, Flaws and All…

'_Troy was standing nervously backstage. He didn't know why but he felt extremely nervous. He had a good voice so there was nothing to worry about. She would love it. He knew she would love it because he was telling her just how much he loved her. Of course she would love it. He took a peek from through the curtain, to try and find Taylor, and a frown appeared on his face when he couldn't find her. He was about to keep searching when he felt a hand on his shoulder._

"_Hey Troy, you're next. You ready, man?" Chad asked, fixing up his best friend's suit. Troy nodded and held on tightly to his microphone._

"_Yeah man but I just can't seem to find her." _

"_What? She's right there, next to Gabriella." He led him over to the curtains and pulled them back a little where Troy could clearly see Taylor and Gabriella sitting in the front row. They caught their eyes and Gabriella waved at Chad whilst Taylor gave Troy a thumb up sign and a kiss. Troy smiled at her and returned back behind the curtain. "Now you ready?" Troy's grin got wider and he nodded._

"_Yeah!" _

"… _TROY BOLTON!!!" The host yelled and a chorus of cheers erupted from the crowd as Troy walked on stage and took a seat on the black stool behind the mic stand. He fitted his microphone in and waited for the music to start. _

'There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea.  
You became the light on the dark side of me.  
Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill.  
But did you know,  
That when it snows,  
My eyes become large and  
The light that you shine can be seen.  
Baby,  
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray_._

_Taylor put a hand to her heart and softened her feautures as she realised this song was for her. Troy didn't stop looking at her as he sang the words, her returning the favour.  
_Ooh,  
The more I get of you,  
The stranger it feels, yeah.  
And now that your rose is in bloom.  
A light hits the gloom on the gray.

There is so much a man can tell you,  
So much he can say.  
You remain,  
My power, my pleasure, my pain, baby  
To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.  
Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby?

_Taylor giggled a little at those words but then smiled straight after. Her eyes were welling up with tears and she was a soon to be emotional wreck._  
But did you know,  
That when it snows,  
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen.  
Baby,  
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.  
Ooh, the more I get of you  
The stranger it feels, yeah  
Now that your rose is in bloom.  
A light hits the gloom on the gray,

I've been kissed by a rose on the gray,  
I've been kissed by a rose  
I've been kissed by a rose on the gray,  
...And if I should fall along the way  
I've been kissed by a rose  
...been kissed by a rose on the gray.

There is so much a man can tell you,  
So much he can say.  
You remain  
My power, my pleasure, my pain.  
To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny, yeah  
Won't you tell me is that healthy, baby.  
But did you know,  
That when it snows,  
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can be seen.

_Taylor couldn't keep the grin off her face as her man made his way towards her. He took her hand in his and kissed it softly before kneeling down to finish the rest of the song._

Baby,  
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.  
Ooh, the more I get of you  
The stranger it feels, yeah  
Now that your rose is in bloom,  
A light hits the gloom on the gray.

_He kissed her hand one more time before retreating to the stage and fitting in his microphone into the stand and locking his eyes on her again to finish his song._  
Yes I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray  
Ooh, the more I get of you  
The stranger it feels, yeah  
And now that your rose is in bloom  
A light hits the gloom on the gray  
Now that your rose is in bloom,  
A light hits the gloom on the gray.'

_When the song finished, Taylor was the first to stand and she wiped the tear that fell from her face. When she saw Troy disappear backstage, she ran towards the stage and went behind the curtains where she found Troy talking to Chad. She ran up behind him and tapped his shoulder. When he turned around she jumped up and kissed him sweetly. He caught her and the two stayed in that position for a few moments. Their tongues following a nice swaying motion…'_

Troy pulled up at Taylor's house and allowed her to get out and she didn't waste any time. She walked out and wiped a tear that had fallen from her eye before going to Aries's side of the car to pull her out. She got her and they made their way to their door. Troy followed and stopped at the stairs.

"Taylor, we're going to have to talk about this sooner or later." Taylor whipped her head around and stared at Troy.

"Well, I pick later." Troy nodded and walked over to hug her goodbye. She returned the hug and then he made his way to Ari, who instantly wrapped him up in a bear hug.

"Bye daddy!" Taylor's eyes grew wide and she pulled the youngster off the blue eyed stud. He stared at Taylor, confusion etched in his face.

"She says that to every man she gets a bit close to. She's still young." She responded before waving to Troy and entering her house.

Troy made his way to the car and sped off to Sharpay's house. The two went to sleep with the same thoughts that night: I still love him/her.

**What'd ya think?**

**R&R**

**TRAYLORXCHAYLOR**

**xx**


	5. authors note

Hey You Guys!

So not only am I suffering from major writer's block, but I need to have more people in my topic in the 'Everything High School Musical Fans Could Want' forum! I've posted a topic, a roleplay, and it's called Bid For Love. So I Need Characters, If You want one, just tell me either in a review or a PM!

Again, sorry I couldn't post a chapter this week, but I will have a double posting next time! Thank you to the reviewers of this story for last week, I appreciate it.

So here are the characters-

Taylor- Me (TraylorxChaylor)

Troy-

Sharpay-

Gabriella-

Chad-

Ryan-

Zeke-

Kelsi-

As you can see, we only have me, lol, this is because I just started it… literally 2 minutes ago and I'm counting on you guys to join. So if you are interested in any of the available characters, review, PM, or just go to the forum site and look for it so you can send a reply!

Xoxo TraylorxChaylor

If you want a link, it's: .net/topic/22101/17200594/1/, if it's not showing… basically it's the site name plus //topic/22101/17200594/1/


	6. Chapter 6

**Daaaang, I haven't updated in ages, and I apologize, but Im back now and I have stories to update! I hope you guys can bare with me, as I try and update ALL of my stories, minus heroes and destination:love. **** LEGGOOOO!**

**Disclaimer: don't own anything, except for original characters.**

Taylor lay in bed, thoughts rushing to her head. She was confused. She knew that she was still in love with Troy, but her mind didn't let her admit it. The journey home which brought back so many memories made it all clear for her. He still had a hold on her heart.

His eyes still managed to keep her staring; his smile still made her heart jump and when they hugged, so many memories and feelings came flooding back. Oh, how she missed Troy. She missed the way he'd call her at 3am in the morning, just to make sure she was asleep and ready for the next day. She missed how he'd surprise her sometimes and hug her from behind. She loved that. Sure, other guys had tried to do that, but it wasn't the same as having Troy's tight grip on her.

Her thoughts were cut off as her daughter knocked on her door, holding her teddy bear tightly. She shuffled into the room and wiped her face. "Mommy, I had a nightmare, can I sleep with you tonight?" Taylor immediately cleared a space for her daughter and hugged her tightly when she slipped in beside her.

"It's alright, baby, mommy's here." She soothed her, rocking her back and forth. Aries wiped her face again and looked up at her mother.

"Do you wanna know what I dreamt about?" she asked, her electric eyes reminding Taylor of the man who wouldn't get out of her thoughts.

"Okay sweetie. What happened?"

"In my dream, there was this clown. H-his name was Zac and mommy, he scared me. You weren't there and I got really scared. But then daddy came for me, and took me away on his pony." Taylor suddenly stopped rocking.

"Ari, honey, that's not a nightmare. The first part, yeah, but your father coming in and taking you away on his pony doesn't sound scary to me." Ari giggled from beside her.

"I know. I just wanted to sleep with you today, mommy." She told her, snuggling deeper into Taylor's embrace. Taylor shook her head and held her daughter closer. "Does daddy love me?"

Taylor was shocked at the question. She wasn't expecting that at all. She stuttered for a moment and spoke. "Of course he does, Ari. What would make you think he doesn't?"

"Well today, he didn't try to talk to me at all, and when I hugged him, he didn't say I love you, or hug me back." She pouted, playing with the cuddly toy in her lap. Taylor sighed and stroked Aries' hair.

"Thing is, Aries, daddy isn't used to you yet. Think about it. He's never seen you before. He's so amazed at how beautiful his daughter is that he doesn't know how to act around you." She said, hoping it would be enough for her daughter to drop the subject. Ari grinned.

"I knew that."

Taylor laughed softly. "Of course you did. Now go to sleep, Ari." She replied, pulling the covers over the both of them.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"What does amazed mean?"

**Monday Afternoon **

"Ari! Come on, we're leaving!" Taylor yelled at her daughter to turn off the TV, so they could make their way to Sharpay's house. Kelsi, Ryan, Jason and Georgia had finally arrived. Aries ran out of the living room and straight out the door, headed for the cab she had to hire as her car was still at the restaurant.

Today was a good day. The sun was blazing down on Albuquerque however it wasn't too hot. It was just right. The wind blew their hair back as they drove to the BBQ. Taylor was wearing her blue and green maxi dress, paired with brown sandals. It showed off her bust but didn't make her look like a MILF either. She had planned to wear a dress which revealed a lot. Just to show Troy,

"Mommy! Look! Daddy's there!" Aries yelled, as the cab slowed down in front of Shar, getting quite excited at seeing her father. Taylor immediately drifted her eyes towards where Ari was pointing. There he was. Damn. Taylor bit her bottom lip and looked him up and down. I repeat, damn. He was outside talking to Jason and Zeke about basketball. When he noticed Taylor's arrive in the cab, he looked up at her and smiled. Zeke bust out laughing.

"Wait. Doesn't Taylor have a car? Why's she using a cab?" Troy didn't answer the question. Instead, he walked up to her cab and leaned on Taylor's open window. Taylor narrowed her eyes at him.

"What?" Troy chuckled softly. Hearing him do that made her want to crack a smile but she had to hold her ground. "I don't see what's so funny."

"I forgot that your car was still at the restaurant." Taylor cocked her head to the side.

"I still don't see what's so funny about that. Now move so we can get out." Troy raised his hands and stepped to the side. Taylor stepped out, giving Troy a flash of her two twins. Troy stared for a few seconds, ten he cleared his throat and looked the other way. Aries came tumbling out of the car as Taylor paid the driver. She ran straight to him and hugged him tightly. He pulled away.

"Hey! You know, I never got to know your name fully. And I don't think you know mine. I'm Troy Zachary David Bolton." He smiled at her and extended her hand. She shook his hand, grinning the whole time.

"I'm Aries Mckessie." Troy mentally sighed of relief, _'No husband. Thank goodness.' _ Taylor quickly took hold of Aries' hand, stopping the conversation between the two.

"Come on, sweetie, let's go find Aunt Kelsi." She smiled sweetly at her daughter then glared at Troy. "Could you move?" Troy smirked and slid to the side. Taylor sighed and walked away, but as she walked passed Troy, he swiftly tapped her on the butt. Taylor turned around and looked at him, shocked. Troy just shrugged, shyly.

"I couldn't help myself." Taylor turned back around and bit her lip to stop herself from smiling.

**2 hours later**

"So Chad and Gabi are coming in on Wednesday, right?" Kelsi asked, sipping on her drink. Sharpay nodded.

"Correct. Gosh, I cannot wait for this reunion! Prove everyone whoever doubted me wrong." Taylor smiled at Sharpay's statement and was about to speak when she felt a hand slip into hers and lead her away.

"What the fuck?" she cursed as Troy dragged her down into the basement. She snatched her hand away and looked at Troy. "What was that?" Troy walked over to an old dresser and leaned on it.

"Tay, I told you we needed to talk about us and—"

"I TOLD YOU THAT WE'D TALK ABOUT IT LATER." Taylor screamed. What was making her so angry was how calm he was even though he spoke with a stern voice. His dangerously massive arms folded over his bulging chest, one leg crossed in front of the other and his sparkling sapphire eyes, staring straight at her.

"No. We're doing this now whether you like it or not, Taylor. You can't keep avoiding this. 3 years you don't answer any of my calls, don't agree to see me, don't accept any of my gifts, I've had enough. We are going to talk about this." He said firmly, causing Taylor to roll her eyes and lean on the wall.

"Go ahead, begin." Troy sighed and began to pace the room.

"First things first I'm sorry. I know, I've probably repeated that sentence more times than I can count but Taylor I really am. I'm sorry I abandoned you, I'm sorry I ruined our relationship and our friendship... I'm sorry. And I know it's been hard for you to try and forgive me but don't you think the whole 'ignoring Troy and staying bitter' act is getting a bit old now?" he questioned. Taylor's head whipped back up.

"Act? Troy this isn't an act, you left me in such a state that I don't see the need in bothering with you anymore. I don't care about you." Troy slammed his fist on the dresser, causing Taylor to jump.

"LIES!" he strode over to Taylor and got so close that she could smell the BBQ in his breath from the ribs he had eaten earlier. "Stop pretending you don't care about me, Tay. Cos I know you still feel something for me. Your ego is just too big to admit it." Taylor's breathing had become shallow.

"Not even, Troy. Of course I still feel something for you. Hate. Disgust. Anger. So in case you haven't caught on, I do NOT feel something for you." Taylor lied; she was not going to let Troy win this one.

"Yes you do, Tay. You just don't want to admit it. I'll admit it. I'm happy to admit it. I'm still in love with you, Taylor Mckessie!"

All she wanted to do was just kiss him. They were in the right position to do so, all he had to do was dip his head down and connect his lips with hers. Thinking about reuniting with his lips made Taylor's mouth go dry which made her tongue then snaked out to wet her lips. Troy caught this and looked down at her lips for a minute. _'Come on, kiss me. Please, Troy, just please kiss me.'_ As if he was reading her mind, Troy bent down and captured her lips in a steamy kiss. That same fire that burnt in Taylor's stomach every time her body came into contact with the stud returned. Taylor even let out a quiet moan. It felt good, she had to! Troy grabbed her waist and stumbled back towards the dresser, where he placed her on top of it, never parting his lips from hers.

He broke off the kiss, but only to begin sucking and softly kissing on her neck.

"Ooh." Taylor moaned softly, letting her head fall back. He pulled down the straps on Taylor's dress, which exposed her breasts. Shit, Troy hadn't even realised she wasn't wearing a bra. He used one hand to caress her bosom and the other one lay on her thigh. He shifted his mouth onto her left breast and Taylor yelped. "Oh shit, Troy. That feels good." She cried. Troy lifted her dress using the hand that was laying on her thigh, exposing her black lace thong. He pulled it to the side and groaned into her breast as he felt her wet pussy. He lifted his head and smirked at her.

"Wet for me already, baby?" Taylor didn't say a word, she just shoved his head down to her other breast, which was in need of special attention of Troy. Taylor was excited. Any moment now, his finger would enter her. She held her breath, waiting for the moment. Just as he was about to thrust in, the door opened.

"Tay! Troy! You guys in here?" Troy and Taylor both froze at Kelsi's voice.

"Y-yeah. We're coming!" Troy shouted, quickly stepping away from Taylor. That's when he suddenly noticed the huge bulge in his pants. "Shit!" Taylor hopped down from the dresser, adjusted her thong and fixed her straps back up. She swallowed and looked down.

"Umm. I'll see you upstairs." She said, rushing passed Troy and up the stairs. She stopped and turned back towards him, biting her lip. "We'll finish this conversation later." And with that she disappeared back upstairs, leaving Troy to try and find a way to get rid of his erection.

As Taylor sat down on a bench, her body still tingling from where Troy had touched her, she thought. Why was she still putting up the act? She knew she loved Troy, she knew she still had feelings for him. Why couldn't she just admit it to herself and let Troy know. Because she was almost certain he felt the same. She sighed and leaned back.

Damn. She was so close to having Troy Bolton in her again.

**A little saucy, i guess. I thought I owed you guys that much lol.**

**Gonna keep this short so please**

**R&R thanks for reading and subscribe to MissMercedesJade thanxs,**

**TraylorxChaylor 3**


	7. Chapter 7

**YAAAY. I'm back ! And I'm now eighteen ! :D so happy! Now i just need to get my provisional and i'll be the happiest girl on earth. Anyway. Back to this **

**To get things straight, the bbq that they had in the last chapter wasn't the wildcat get together. That will be held in this chapter. Because chad and gabriella will also be arriving in this chapter **

**This Chapter Is Rated M. Don't Read If You Don't Like Saucy Saucy **

**DISCLAIMER – I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING APART FROM ORGINAL CHARACTERS AND PLACES.**

Taylor pushed her hair to the side as she wrote down a few notes. Ever since what happened with Troy the day before, she became extremely nervous whenever his name was brought up. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy what happened. It's just that she didn't know where that left them. They weren't going to get back together, but she did not hate him. Suddenly she heard the door of the office adjacent to her own open. Taylor's head shot straight up and she smiled. It was one of her close friends and boss, Blair.

"Hey, Anna told me to tell you that you got another call from Troy Bolton. He said," he told her, reaching into his pocket and reading the post-it note he had written on, "_Tay, we need to finish the conversation, remember, wink face, so stop ignoring my calls and call me when you're ready, wink face_. Now I'm not one to jump to conclusions but is he talking bout sex?" Blair stated, leaning against his office door. Apart from Sharpay and her cousin Zeke, Blair was Taylor's best friend. He was always there when she just needed someone to put a smile on her face or cheer her up. Plus, he let her go home early some days when he felt she just needed to relax. Taylor just laughed and shook her head as he walked in and shut his door. "Taylor I'm serious. Was he?"

"No! He's just talking about what happened between us yesterday."

"And what happened between you guys yesterday?" He questioned whilst sitting down, leaning forward onto Taylor's desk and resting a hand on his chin.

"Nothing!" Taylor got up and walked up to the file cabinet, sliding it open and reaching in to grab something.

"Nothing, my ass. Well then what's with the wink face?" Taylor sighed and turned to face Blair who had now stood up and walked towards Taylor.

"We shared a moment at this thing Sharpay and Zeke had." She said briefly, attempting to cross Blair and go back to her desk. Unluckily for her, he reached his hand out and stopped her. His silence and the stare he sent her way, was a sign for Taylor to elaborate. "We were arguing. He told me still loved me. I told him I hate him. He kissed me. I kissed him back. Then he nearly put his finger in me. Happy?" Blair's arm dropped at the last few statements. His jaw swiftly followed.

"TROY BOLTON NEARLY FINGER FUCKED YOU? TAYLOR!" he screamed, as Taylor covered his mouth with her hand.

"Would you keep quiet? And so? What's wrong with that?"

"You told him you hate him, and then you let him nearly finger you! Taylor, that's pretty contradictive."

"I know. And now I can't face him, Blair."

"Why not?"

"Because I know that if I see him again, I'll end up telling him that I'm still in love with him." She blurted out, realising that that was the first time she had admitted that, she looked down. At those words, Blair winced.

"Ouch, Tay. I thought you and I were gonna be together. I would have made a great father to Ari." Taylor laughed softly and sat down again.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Blair." He smiled at her and got up to leave.

"Taylor, as a friend, I suggest you tell Troy how you feel. Because, as a man – better yet, as a human- it feels good when you find out people reciprocate the same feelings that you have. Now, are you accompanying me for this meeting? I can't bare to listen to Mr Gilligan drone on."

"Yeah. Just give me a minute, you go ahead." She told him, smiling softly and organising all the papers they would need. After grinning back at her, he left, closing the door quietly and leaving Taylor with her thoughts. He was right. What was the worst thing that could happen if she told Troy that she was still in love with him? The worst he could say was that he had changed his mind over 2 days and he was moving to Alaska. But she highly doubted that. Sighing heavily, she began to pick up the papers for the meeting.

The meeting didn't take long at all. Taylor brought this down to the fact that Blair interrupted Mr Gilligan every time he tried to speak.

She walked back in and placed the minutes of the meeting next to the computer, so that she could type them up and print it off. "You thinking about what I said?"Blair asked, placing his hands in his pockets and staring at her as she sat down and placed her head in her hands.

"I've been thinking about it ever since you said it. I guess you're right. I should tell him that I love him. But I just wanna stay mad at him. That's what I wanna do. I want him to think that I don't care. I wanna make him suffer like he did."

"That's not gonna help anything, Tay. You need to tell him. Everything."

"Blair—"

"Don't Blair me. You need to tell him that Ari is his daughter. He needs to know these types of things. I mean, there is no man in this world who likes secrets. Especially when it involves the woman he loves. Hell, if I found out that I had a child that I didn't know about, I would be angry at that woman."

"First Sharpay, now you. I know what I'm doing. I'm gonna tell him when I feel it's right time."

"It's been 3 years, Tay. Don't you think it's the right time? He's already missed some of the important things in a child's life. First steps. First word. Do you want him to miss any more? Cos let me tell you now, if that were me—"

"Stop with your opinions, Blair!" she laughed, lifting her head and facing him. He walked towards her and enveloped her in a tight hug.

"Just saying, Tay. Just saying." They stayed that way for a few more moments before he pulled away. "As your friend, I should let you go home early." He chuckled at the look of hope Taylor gave him. "But as your boss, I'm gonna tell you to finish typing up the minutes, and the rest of the work I gave you earlier." Taylor rolled her eyes and pushed him playfully before she made her way back to her desk. "Chop chop, Mckessie." He called over his shoulder, entering his office.

Taylor looked up at the clock and was glad to see that it was time for her to go home. She sighed as she began to clear up her desk as she prepared to go pick up her daughter from her mother's house, then head home. Usually, her mother would go to her house to look after Aries, but today she had decided to just drop Ari there, seeming as she had gone to retrieve her car on the night of the BBQ. She didn't leave before saying goodbye to Blair, who once again gave her his opinion of telling Troy.

Taylor sighed to herself as she waited for the light to turn green. Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, she thought about what she was gonna do when she next saw Troy. Her mind told her to forget what happened the day before and keep holding the grudge. Her heart told her to tell him she still loved him. Her inner freak, however, told her to carry on the activities that happened earlier that week. Which she was gonna listen to, she still had to decide.

"Mommy?" Taylor turned towards the door as she lay in bed, reading.

"You have another nightmare, baby?" Aries ran and jumped in bed with her mother. Shaking her head, she snuggled closer to Taylor.

"No. I just wanted to sleep with you tonight, mommy." This time, Taylor smiled and placed her book to the side.

"Oh, alright. But I thought you were a big girl, Aries. I thought you could sleep by yourself." She stated, wrapping her arm around her daughter.

"I can. I'm a big girl. Daddy said to me on Monday that I was a big girl because I counted all the way to 10."

"Did he now? You've never counted to 10 for me." She smiled, adoring the way her daughter used her hands to explain things when she was talking.

"That's because you don't do it like daddy does." as she was talking, Taylor couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at how quickly Aries had adjusted to calling Troy daddy. Troy himself didn't even know that Aries was his child yet. "Does this thing, mommy. It's like I Spy. But he says he sees 2 tables. Or 3 cups. Look, let me show you!" she stated, jumping out of bed and standing facing her mother. "1TV, 2 tables, 3 cups, 4 chairs, 5 plates, 6 hats... Umm." She used her fingers as she tried to think of the next number.

"7..."

"7 spoons, 8 people, 9 pillows and 10 balloons!" Aries smiled and jumped back into bed when she finished. "See, mommy! I am a big girl."

"Yes you are, Ari." She kissed her forehead. "Now try and sleep, baby. You're going to Aunt Sharpay's tomorrow and you have to be early, okay." She watched as the innocent child nodded and gently closed her eyes to sleep.

The next morning, Taylor and Ari were making their way over to Sharpay's house so that she could drop her daughter there. She had to leave early so that she could make it in time for work. She suddenly became extremely nervous as she neared Zeke's house. Why? Well, it had only just entered her mind that Troy would be there too. What would she do? What past of herself would she listen to? Mind, Heart or Inner Freak. At the moment, she was going with Mind. She laughed to herself as she saw Sharpay run out (still in her pyjamas) and wait for them excitedly. When Taylor unstrapped Aries and help her out, Ari ran as fast as her legs could carry her towards Sharpay who happily lifted her in the air. Taylor just leaned on her car as she watched the two silently.

"I see how it is. My daughter gets all the love, but I don't even get a hi."

"Ari, did you hear something?" Sharpay joked, looking at the giggling child as she shook her head. "Hmm. Neither did I. Strange."

"Fine. I'll just go. Seeing as I'm not wanted here." Sharpay laughed and walked towards her.

"Oh, come here Tay. I've got enough love for everyone." Taylor accepted the hug, careful of her daughter who had now settled for staring at something in the sky.

"Any room for me?" Taylor suddenly froze at the voice. She knew exactly who that was and she couldn't exactly say that she was happy to see him. In fact, she didn't know exactly how to feel about seeing him.

Sharpay took a step back, allowing Ari to see Troy. "TROY!" He smiled at her before attempting to take her from Sharpay's hold.

"Ergh! You smell like sweat. Go shower then you can come and talk to Ari."

"Aunt Sharpay?" Sharpay looked at the sweet little girl. "Can I go potty?" she laughed softly before nodding. "Taylor hand me the Ari's bag and I'll take her." Taylor handed Sharpay the bag filled with all of the things Ari usually needs. Toys, blanket, more clothes, jacket, hat and other stuff. "I'll see you later, Tay. And Troy I'm serious, go shower." And with that she left, leaving Troy and Taylor by themselves.

"Hey."

"Hi." Taylor said, rolling her eyes and ignoring her increasing heartbeat.

"You alright?" Troy asked, stepping in front of so that he was facing her. Taylor looked up at him for the first time since yesterday. Staring up at his eyes only made her change her decision to follow her mind. She was stuck again.

"Yeah, yeah. You?"

"Yep. Just came back from my daily run."

"You still do that?" she questioned, leaning back on her car again. Troy flashed a smile and looked away.

"Yep. I gotta stay in shape if I wanna stay at the top of my game." Taylor just nodded as they fell into an awkward silence, neither knowing exactly what to say. Taylor looked at the watch on her wrist.

"I should be heading to work. Can you make sure that Aries behaves?"

"Taylor what happened yesterday—"

"Shouldn't have happened. Look, I don't wanna talk about it. I really should be heading to work."

"What? Taylor, I was gonna say, what happened yesterday... I want more."

"Well too bad. I don't." Taylor snorted, turning around to try and enter her car. However, Troy just held her arms gently and turned her around.

"Don't lie to me, Taylor. The way you were moaning and not stopping me proves to me that you want more as well."

"Troy, can I just—" she was cut off as she felt Troy's lips gently lay on top of hers. She didn't know what to do at first, until she finally got into it and kissed him back. As he snaked his arms around her waist, he deepened the kiss. That was when Taylor got a hold of herself and pushed him away. That was also when Taylor went back to her original decision of Mind. "Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?" he asked innocently.

"Kissing me and cutting me off."

"As if you don't enjoy it. Taylor, don't you feel it when we kiss? All of the love between us comes back every time I kiss you. Kissing you takes me back to a happier time. Back when you were still mine." He responded, looking at her and stroking her cheek. Taylor grabbed his hand and stared at him.

"That was a long time ago."

"Yeah, well my feelings still remain."

"However, mine don't." She lied. "Now, I need to get to work so excuse me." Troy hadn't even realised how close to her he still was. So he took a step back and watched as the woman he had once let go drove away.

Taylor had a lot to think about as the day went on. Troy was still on her mind. Their kiss was still on her mind and his words from that morning and the day before plagued her mind. Blair had to ask her quite a few times whether she was alright and each time she told him that she was alright and that he shouldn't worry. The day seemed to go pretty quickly as it wasn't as busy and she'd finished most of the work the day before.

"I'll see you on Thursday, Blair." She told him, opening his door and smiling at him.

"Oh right, that BBQ thing. I forgot. Um, alright, Tay. Just keep in mind what I said, baby girl. Okay?" she nodded and hugged him before making her way over to Sharpay's house to pick up Aries. Thinking about it now, it was all pretty weird. Troy didn't realise it but his child was under the same roof as him at that moment. Taylor shrugged off that strange feeling and got out of her car, smoothing her skirt as she knocked on the door.

"Taylor!" Zeke exclaimed, hugging her and closing the door behind her when she walked in. "It feels like I haven't seen you in a while."

"You saw me on Monday, what are you talking about?"

"Yeah but I didn't see you Tuesday and I missed you when you came to drop Aries off." Hearing her mother's voice, Ari ran into the room and grinned when her mother bent down to hug her.

"Hey baby."

"Hi, mommy." Ari was about to tell Taylor how her day went when she heard footsteps from the stairs. Looking up, her eyes met with a pair of sharp blue ones. She stood up fully when Aries ran back to Troy to give him a hug.

"You leaving now, Ari?"

"Yes. I'm going home."

"Oh." He frowned. "Well, I guess we're gonna have to finish our game tomorrow, right?"

"Okay!" she smiled up at Troy as he stared at her. It only occurred to him that her eyes sort of matched his own, only not as blue.

"If you're done staring at her, I'd like my daughter back please." Taylor stated sharply as Sharpay entered the hallway with Aries' bag. "Thanks Shar for looking after her, I appreciate it." Sharpay embraced Taylor before handing her Ari's bag and standing beside Zeke.

"You know it's alright, Tay. I'll take any chance I get to see my god daughter," Sharpay responded, watching as Troy put Ari down and she ran to her mother's side. "Just make sure you're on time for tomorrow, alright? Remember, no kids!"

"Yeah yeah, Sharpay. My mom's staying at home with her tomorrow. Bye, you guys." She smiled at Zeke and Sharpay before leaving.

**The Next Day**

Taylor ran to the door, expecting her mother to be at the other side. She opened the door and smiled at the woman who looked like the older version of herself. Stepping inside, her mother enveloped her child in a tight hug.

"Where's my granddaughter?"

"She's upstairs sleeping, mom. I've left all the numbers on the table and—"

"Taylor, we'll be fine, you're gonna be back later on tonight."

"I know, but this is the first time I've taken a day off and haven't spent it with Ari." Her mother sighed and opened the front door.

"Go, sweetie. I'm sure Sharpay wouldn't want you to be late."

"Thanks mom. Love you. And tell Ari mommy loves her. And make sure to call me if anything happens." She yelled as she got into her car and waved at her mother.

"I will, now go!"

When Taylor got there, Sharpay made her help to get things organised and set up before everyone arrived. Taylor didn't notice that every time she walked passed him; Troy would stare longingly at her. As they were getting some of the drinks out, there was a knock at the door. Taylor placed everything she was holding down, she trotted over to the door and got the shock of her life when she opened it.

"If it isn't Taylor Mckessie! Long time, no speak." Chad exclaimed, pulling the beauty in for a hug which she gladly returned. Once they were done, Taylor caught Gabriella's eyes. The two looked at each other for a moment before squealing and embracing each other.

"It's been so long, Taylor! Oh my gosh, you look amazing!"

"So do you, Gabi. Wow. Come in, sorry." They all walked in and looked around Sharpay's house, admiring everything that they saw. Chad spotted Troy and Zeke out back and he kissed Gabriella goodbye before going to see them.

"Taylor, who was at the—GABRIELLA MONTEZ!" Sharpay yelled, rushing over to her and nearly knocking her down. "You look amazing!"

"Doesn't she?" Taylor agreed, looking her up and down.

"Oh, stop it." Gabriella joked, laughing with her old friends. "You both seriously look great! Let's go sit down, my feet are killing me." When they all sat down, they began to talk, stopping every once in a while to laugh or squeal.

"I thought you and Chad were gonna come in later tonight."

"Nope, Chad's game was cancelled this morning so we got on the first flight and came straight here."

"Do you know where you're staying?" Gabriella shook her head.

"We still haven't chosen between mine or his parents yet."

"Nonsense, you can stay here."

"Are you sure, Shar? We don't wanna be a burden."

"Oh come on, Gabi. I already got Troy under my roof, what's one more person gonna do?"

Gabriella instantly turned to face Taylor when Troy was mentioned. Taylor just shrugged her shoulders. "What?"

"Oh nothing, just wanted to see if your face would change when his name was mentioned."

"Oh please. Why would I get excited over him?"

"Err, cos he's your ex." Sharpay retorted as if Taylor should know this stuff.

"Your first." Gabriella added.

"And the father of your child." Gabriella's head whipped round at this.

"WHAT?"

"You didn't tell her?" Taylor rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I told her that I had a daughter... just not who the father was."

"Oh my gosh, Taylor! Does he know?"

"No." Sharpay answered as Taylor opened her mouth to speak. Taylor was about to say something when Zeke walked in.

"Hey Gabriella, it's good to see you again. Ladies, we're gonna need you're help with setting up some of these things."

"You're men, you're supposed to be good at setting up things."

"Just come and help." Zeke responded, smiling and walking away. Taylor thanked Zeke silently and she quickly followed him to avoid the situation that was at hand.

The next few hours were spent helping get things organised, changing, conversing, reminiscing and for Taylor, avoiding Troy as best as she could. The night seemed to be over very quickly and everyone had gone but Taylor; who stayed back to help clean. She was getting ready to leave, when Sharpay handed her something.

"Tay, could you give this to Troy please? He left it on the counter and it kept ringing."

"Can't you do it, Shar?"

"No. Now go up there and give it to him. All you gotta do it hand it to him. He's on the 2nd door to the left." Taylor groaned and rolled her eyes before heading upstairs. The things she did for Sharpay. She was gonna be late home. She knocked on the door and hear a distant voice tell her to come in. When she realised that there was no one actually in the room, she walked over to the dresser and left it there.

"Oh right, I was looking for that. Thanks, Tay." His voice seemed to stop her dead in her tracks. She turned to face him and couldn't help but stare. When he stepped out, the steam from his shower followed close behind him. He had his towel wrapped loosely around his waist and his chest had beads of water still hanging off and sliding down to his abs. His hair had gone dark due to the contact with water and he looked amazing. At this point, she could feel herself shifting back to listening to her Inner Freak. He caught her staring and laughed to himself. "Like what you see?"

"Oh please. I've seen it all before. Just like nearly every girl in LA." She murmured the last part to herself, looking down. He walked towards her and stood right infront of her.

"I didn't hear what you said at the end, can you repeat that for me?"

"I said, I've seen it all before just like nearly every girl in—" she was once again cut off by Troy's lips connecting with hers. This time, unlike the kiss earlier, it was lustful. It was a possessive kiss. When Taylor pulled back and looked up into his eyes, she saw his eyes darken as he looked her up and down, biting his lip as he did so.

"You don't understand how much I want you, Tay." He whispered, bending down to her ear and nibbling on it. Taylor didn't say anything as he began to kiss from behind her ear, down to where her neck and collarbone met. That's when he began to lightly suck on the spot. During all this, Troy had snaked his arms around Taylor's waist and pulled her closer. She let out a moan and pushed his head lower, succumbing to lust. Troy smiled as she finally gave in, however he pulled back and went to the door. Closing it, he turned around to face her. He watched as she just stared at him, waiting for his next move. Troy slowly made his way over to her, smiling the entire way. She felt vulnerable and weak as she let her guard down. But that feeling all went away when Troy began to remove her clothing. When her jacket was off he placed soft kisses on her shoulder and started to remove her top.

Suddenly, Taylor gently pushed him off. "Troy, what are we doing?"

"Taylor, I know you wanna do this. And believe me when I say that I wanna do this too. So just relax, baby. And let me do what I do best." He smirked as she closed her eyes when he continued to kiss her neck. He pulled the shirt over her head and smiled once again when he was met with Taylor's breasts which were being held up in a bra. He made his way back to her lips, and kissed her passionately whilst reaching behind her to take off her bra. Once it was off, Troy's hands began to gently massage her breasts as Taylor let her own wonder on Troy's front. He slowly started to unbuckle her pants and he pulled them down gently, kissing every part of exposed skin as he went down. Taylor kicked them off and wrapped her arms around his neck before bringing him up to kiss him again, finally getting into it. "That's more like it." Troy murmured against her lips. He carried on kissing Taylor as she reached down and pulled his towel off. They stumbled back until they fell on Troy's bed. Taylor managed to move all the way back to the head board so that they wouldn't fall off.

Taylor moaned when she felt Troy's arousal as he grinded into her. "God, I've missed that." Troy grinned at her, before shifting and going down to try and please Taylor to the fullest. However, Taylor just placed her hands on his shoulders and shook her head when he looked up at her. "I need you." Troy did not have to be told twice and in an instant he reached over into his drawer to get a condom. After wrapping himself up, he settled in between Taylor. Leaning over and kissing her, he entered her.

"Fuck..." he groaned, tensing at the amazing feeling of Taylor. Taylor however just shut her eyes and moaned. "Baby, you alright?" she nodded quickly.

"Mm-hm. I just forgot how big you were." He nodded as well and kissed her as he moved deeper. He stopped and allowed Taylor to get reused to his size before he began to pick up his pace. Taylor couldn't help but moan, especially when Troy's dick was pounding deep inside of her. "Oh God, Troy. Yes!" she choked out, holding on to him for dear life as he sped up. Troy could feel himself tightening and he pulled out of her. She looked at him with confused eyes. "What is it?"

"I want this to last longer, but baby, I forgot just what your body did to me." She smirked and pushed herself up so that they were both kneeling. Then she pushed him gently so that she was straddling him. She reached behind him and lifted herself up before allowing herself to sink back down onto him. They both groaned. Slowly, Taylor began to bounce up and down, much to Troy's pleasure, who's eyes had now shut. He placed his hands on her hips and started to push her down onto him as he pushed up into her. This caused Taylor to scream out loud. He did it again and he got the same reaction. Taylor, no longer able to stay upright, leaned forward and captured Troy's lips in a heated kiss as he carried on his actions. "I want you to cum for me, Taylor." She shook her head and placed her delicate hands on his own.

"I want you to do it with me." Troy smiled at her and shook his head, increasing the force he used when slamming into her. She whimpered.

"I told you, Taylor. I want you to do it for me first."

"And I told you," she told him, tightening her inner muscles and watching as he tensed up and the veins in his neck bulged out, "I want you to do it with me."

"Oh fuck, Taylor." When she tightened again, Troy used his full power to slam in to her and push her down and that's when Taylor cracked.

"TROY!" she screamed before cumming hard and long. Troy screamed out her name as well before emptying himself inside of her. She collapsed on top of him and rolled onto her back. Troy travelled down the bed whilst Taylor lay on her back panting. She was breathless. As she tried to catch her breath, she felt warm kisses being planted from her stomach and upwards until they softly caressed her mouth. She was just about to deepen it when the kiss was stopped. As she opened her eyes, she smiled when she looked down at a pair of electric blue orbs.

"I can't believe we just did that. In Sharpay's house." Troy pushed some hair out of her face and then suddenly shrugged his shoulders.

"So? She's probably gonna be happy about this. Now, Miss Mckessie, you ready for round two?"

**Damn. I hoped you guys liked that, as much as i enjoyed writing it.**

**Remember to read and review, that's what keeps me going.**

**MissMercedesJade**

**xx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you guys for your reviews on the last chapter. Means a lot and I hope you guys like it. If you have any opinions don't be afraid to share them with me. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- I obviously do not own anything or else I would be a very rich young girl!**

The thin and even breathing was all that could be heard in the room. Staring at Troy the whole time, Taylor managed to push the blankets away and stand up. As she began to put her clothes back on, being as quiet as she could, she couldn't help but shake her head in shame at herself. She had given in. She'd given in to lust and now she'd slept with Troy. Her ex. The father of her child. The guy who broke her heart. She was meant to be angry at him, but when he softly caressed her lips and spoke with that husky tone in his voice, Taylor couldn't help herself. Taking one last look back at the sleeping blue eyed stud, she grabbed her bag and slowly opened the door. As soon as it was closed, she leaned on it, not noticing another person leaving their room also. Padding softly towards the stairs, she was startled when a sharp whisper stopped her.

"Taylor? It's 4:30 in the morning, I thought you'd gone?" Taylor opened her mouth to speak, but closed it shut again.

"Well, I... Uh... I was-." Sharpay gasped and made her way towards Taylor, pointing a manicured finger at Troy's door then back again.

"Why were you coming out of Troy's room? And why is your hair so messed up?" she gasped again and covered her mouth. "Did you have sex with Troy? Taylor!" Taylor instantly put her hand over Sharpay's mouth and gave her a glare.

"You didn't see anything okay?" Sharpay nodded. "I'm going to go home and we'll talk about this tomorrow. Got it, Shar?" she removed her hand when Sharpay nodded again, Sharpay giggled and wandered into the bathroom whilst Taylor headed out and towards her house.

"Taylor! Where in the world were you? You were meant to be home a few hours ago! Don't worry, I gave Aries a bath, read to her and put her to bed. Taylor would you answer me? Where were you?" By the time her mother had finished, Taylor had removed her shoes, dumped her keys down and relaxed on her sofa, throwing an arm over her eyes and sighing.

"I'm sorry, mom. Was Ari much trouble?" Taylor asked, getting even more comfortable on the chair until her mother pushed her feet off and sat down next to her.

"Taylor, where were you?"

"I was uh... at Sharpay's house."

"Until these early hours? I was just about to give up on waiting for you and head to sleep." Taylor gave her mom a sincere smile and placed her hand in hers.

"You didn't have to do that mom. I just... lost track of time." When she uttered the last phrase, she looked down and said it quietly. Her mom caught this and lifted her head gently.

"What's wrong, Tay?" Taylor shook her head, replaced her frown with a smile and stood up to go upstairs.

"Nothing, ma. I'm gonna go to sleep, I'll set up the-." She never finished because her mother pulled her back down onto the couch and fixed her with a glare, which instantly caused her to crack. "I had sex with Troy, ma." Her mother had to strain to hear her as she whispered the words so softly. She blinked a few times before letting out a breath. "I don't know what I was thinking!"

"You obviously weren't thinking with your head, baby. Did you enjoy it?" Taylor shot her mother a shocked look.

"MOM!"

"Answer the question, Taylor. Did you enjoy it?" Taylor sighed softly before nodding slowly.

"But I don't know whether I enjoyed it because I haven't gotten any in a while or-."

"Because it was with Troy." Her mother finished for her.

"Exactly. All I know is that it was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened." When her mother didn't reply, she took it as a sign for her to explain why. "When I woke up and turned to stare at him... When what we'd done finally sunk in, it brought back too much, ma. I mean, the last time I'd ever been intimate with any man, he abandoned me and left me heartbroken. And it didn't help that that man was the same man who I had just slept with. I... I don't wanna go through that again."

"Sweetie, it was just one time, right?"

"Yes, but knowing Troy, he's gonna want more! I know him and he's definitely not gonna let this go."

"Well then maybe it's time you finally listen to what I say!" she joked, her smile dropping when Taylor didn't respond. "Look, sweetie, just get to sleep, okay. You have work in, almost 4 hours. You need to rest." Taylor nodded, and hugged her mother before heading to bed herself.

Troy groaned as finally came to. Squinting when his eyes were hit with the light, he smiled when he thought back to last night's events. For him, that was absolutely amazing! It reminded him of just how much he'd missed her. It also reminded him of just how much of an idiot he was for hurting her in the first place. But the one thing that came to mind when Troy thought about their night together, was how maybe he still had a chance. All he had to do was ask her if she was still in love with him. Wanting to find out the answer now, he stretched out his arm to wrap it around Taylor. But his arm just flopped down onto an empty bed. This made Troy jolt up and search around his room for Taylor. When he couldn't locate her, he grabbed his boxers, threw them on, and exited his room. He saw the main bathroom door open so he knew she couldn't be in there. He could hear Sharpay's out of tune singing and the frying of something in a pan. Maybe she was already in the kitchen with Sharpay. As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, his eyes raced around the room trying to find her.

"Ew! Troy, will you put something on? It's too early in the morning to be observing your nudity." She groaned as she shielded her eyes. Troy ignored her and stepped further into the kitchen.

"Have you seen Taylor?"

"Yeah. I saw her leaving round four-thirty this morning." Sharpay didn't notice the flash of hurt and disappointment that crossed Troy's face. "Speaking of Miss Mckessie, what exactly were you two up to last night? When she left, her hair was messed up, and she was coming out of your room." Troy wasn't paying attention to what she was saying after. He only had one thing on his mind at that moment.

"Shar, where's Taylor's workplace? You know what? Leave the name and address on the table by the door and I'll take it on my way out." He raced back upstairs and swung his door open to retrieve his phone. When he found it on top of the dresser, his eyes collided with a pearly white bra. Smiling to himself, he placed it on the bed before wandering back out and into the bathroom.

"Taylor?" Blair questioned, leaning on her desk and giving her an incredulous look. She just shrugged and brushed her hair to the side.

"What?"

"Don't what me. What's up, Tay?" Blair decided to walk around and place himself on her desk, fixing her with the same stern look whilst crossing his arms over his chest. Sighing, Taylor braced her head in her hands and groaned.

"I'm just... stressed." She lied, letting out a breath and tapping her fingers on her head. That was partly the truth. Keyword being partly. Blair chuckled slightly and made his way directly behind Taylor. When he placed his hands on her shoulders, she immediately tensed up. "What are you-." Blair's calming voice shut her up.

"Giving you a massage. Now shut up and enjoy it. This probably won't happen again." He laughed the last part in her ear before returning to Taylor's shoulders. He began to softly rub her shoulders, taking in how tense she actually was. "Damn Tay. You are tense." Taylor lolled her head to the side and moaned softly, not really wanting to talk. He laughed at her, before continuing. Kneading her shoulders, and sometimes reaching her back, Blair was doing a good job in making Taylor feel better, and judging by the way she kept moaning and closing her eyes, she was enjoying it too.

"Go lower... A little to the left... Little more... Oh gosh, yes!" Taylor commanded, bending her head down. Neither of them noticed the figure that had arrived at the door. Blair suddenly removed his hands when he saw the person at the door, much to Taylor's dismay, who whipped her head up to snap at Blair for stopping, but stopped when her brown eyes collided with a pair of distressed blue ones. Silence stayed in the room for a while until Blair clasped his hands together and moved from behind Taylor.

"Taylor, I'm just gonna go see what Harrison needed."

"I'll go with you." Taylor insisted, almost knocking over her desk at the speed in which she stood up.

"No, I... I can handle it, Tay. You stay here with your um, visitor." He gave Taylor a small smile before exiting the room, smiling a little at Troy and closing the door on his way out. Taylor and Troy stood in silence again. Troy was sending Taylor what she could only guess was a glare and Taylor was doing all that she could to avoid those overpowering blue orbs.

"Is this important, Troy, because I really have to continue working." She snapped, finally raising her eyes to meet his. He turned his head, letting out a bitter chuckle before shaking it and ambling towards Taylor.

"What is wrong with you, Taylor?" Taylor blinked a couple of times before standing up and gathering her confidence.

"There is nothing wrong with me, Troy."

"Yes, yes there is something wrong with you!" he firmly stated, he was on the verge of shouting, but her office walls were thin and he didn't want anyone hearing their conversation.

"Did you come here to insult me? 'Cos I don't have to take this! So you can just leave right now, Troy!"

"No! I came here for some answers. And I'm not leaving till I get them!" he responded, the glint in his eye looking sort of dangerous. This made Taylor's confidence falter a little and she took a deep breath and folded her arms.

"Fine then. Ask away." He watched as she made her way round the desk and towards the file cabinet near him. His arm shot out and latched onto hers, despite his slight anger, he was still gentle.

"Why did you leave?"

"What?"

"You heard me, Taylor. Why did you leave after we had sex?" Taylor snatched her hand away and smirked.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Waking up expecting to see the one you just made love to by your side and yet they're gone." She observed Troy lower his head, and that's when she released a bitter laugh and shook her head. "It hurts when you just wanna share that special moment after sex with the one you love and... they're not there. It hurt, didn't it Troy?" Her voice cracked towards the end, but she didn't let that bother her and she cleared her throat.

"Taylor, I'm sorry. I honestly don't understand how many times I'm gonna have to repeat it until you understand. I was a fool. If I could go back in time, that would be the first thing that I would change! Leaving you was the biggest mistake in my life." Every piece of anger that he had been holding onto towards her faded when she had said those words to him. Now he understood.

"Two things, Troy. One, you can't go back in time. What happened happened? And it was probably all for a reason. Two, you didn't _leave _me. You _abandoned _me."

"I know, and I'm-."

"No, you don't know!" she snapped, her voice rising in anger at the subject. This was the first time that the two had confronted the subject and already she was angry. "You don't understand what I went through. You don't know what it feels like to have your heart broken. And that's exactly what you did, Troy. When you abandoned me... you-you broke my heart." She couldn't hold it in anymore. Talking about it only seemed to make it worse. Turning away from him, she allowed a tear to drop from her eye, but she quickly caught it and wiped it away before rotating again to meet a silent Troy. "That's what I thought. You can see yourself out."

"Taylor, I will always regret what happened. When I... _abandoned_ you, I let the love of my life go. You and I were supposed to get married." He cracked a small smile. "Remember? Taylor I still want that with you. I... I know you probably don't want to forgive me, but you can't deny that you still love me. You were lying to me back at Sharpay's in her basement." Taylor shook her head and sighed.

"Troy, please. I do remember. Of course I remember! But Troy that was in the past and you need to let that go." She was finding a hard time convincing herself with these words.

"I don't want to let you go, Taylor!" he pleaded, taking another step towards her. "And neither do you!"

"Troy, we-."

"Let's try this again." He gently placed his finger underneath her chin and lifted her face to look up at him. "Tell me you don't love me, Taylor. I'm not promising that I will let you go because we both know I'm not willing. But if you tell me you don't still love me then..." he sighed, "I'll leave you alone." He returned his focus onto her as she dropped her eyes down back onto the ground. "So... Taylor, do you still love me?" She hesitated for what seemed like an eternity for Troy. When she finally looked back up at him, she took a deep breath and nodded. As soon as she moved her head up to nod, Troy's arms flung around her and he enveloped her in a tight hug. "Oh thank goodness. I wasn't willing to leave you alone, Tay." When he couldn't feel her arms around him, he pulled back and bent down slightly so he could look at her from her level. "Hey, why did you lie to me back in the basement?"

"Because it wasn't going to change anything. Okay, we've established that we're still in love with each other. Now what? We get back together? Troy I have a child! And besides, our past is too painful for us to do that and how do I know that you won't hurt me again?" Troy sighed and cupped her face in his hands, stroking her cheek.

"First things first, I will never hurt you again. I'd have to be an absolute idiot to hurt you again. Two, I'm not saying I take the place of Ari's father, but I would love to get to know your child even better. We'll make it work, Tay. But you also have to realise that the past is the past. It happened and we can't change that, we're just gonna have to live with it, but we can move forward... Are you willing to move forward, Taylor? Would you be willing to get passed the big mistake I made 3 years ago and take me back?" As a response, Taylor reached behind his head and pulled his head down towards him to lock him in a sweet kiss. "I'll take that as a yes." He murmured against her lips, placing short kisses on her lips. She giggled and pulled back.

"If we're gonna get back together and put the past behind us, I have to know one thing."

"What's that?"

"This question has literally been bugging me for 3 years... _Why did you go?_" She watched as Troy tensed up at her question, but she continued anyway. "Seriously, I need to know. You came because the coach benched you because of your attitude to him, so you had spare time, but I don't understand what made you leave." She whispered softly. There was no way he was actually going to reveal his true reason. Not when he had just gotten her back, because he knew for a fact that if she found out, it would only drive her away again and that was something that he did not want to happen.

"I told you, Tay. Because I was a complete idiot." Taylor sighed. She really wanted an answer from him because she knew that if she knew what had driven him away then she could finally close that chapter of their lives.

"Was it my body?" Troy's eyebrows furrowed as he listened to her. "Is that what made you go?"

"No. Hell no! Taylor, I love your body. I love you! It wasn't your fault; you had nothing to do with it. It was all me." He looked down and spoke quietly. Flashbacks of the reason why he had actually came that day coming back. "Me and my dumb self, okay? Don't blame yourself."

"But Troy, I need a reason. I need to know what exactly made you leave right after we had sex."

"What made you leave this morning?"

"Fear."

"Exactly. I was scared. After we slept together, whilst I was watching you sleep, I couldn't help but think of how amazing you are." When Taylor blushed, he stroked her cheek and smiled at her. "You are Tay. But at the same time, I couldn't help but think of how unworthy I am of you. I was scared that you would see that and leave me." When he had finished, Taylor planted a hot kiss on his lips, reassuring him that she had bought the story. There was some truth to it though. He'd thought he didn't deserve her and that she would soon realise. He returned her smile as she pulled back. Their moment was ruined by Blair reopening the door and stepping inside.

"Alright, y'all have had plenty of time to talk, now vamoose, Taylor has work to do." Troy rolled his eyes and sneaked in one more kiss with Taylor before strolling to the door. Before he left, he dug into his pocket and brought out a pearly white lacy bra. He threw it at Taylor and winked at Taylor's embarrassed face before leaving. Blair let out a long whistle before laughing and placing a folder on Taylor's desk as he made his way into his own office. "I need you to view some of the shares that Harrison is thinking about trading, look into their history, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah, and the usual." Taylor barely nodded as she held onto the bra tightly so that Blair wouldn't be able to see them.

"Uh huh."

"Oh and Taylor? Nice bra." She blushed whilst her laughed all the way into his office, leaving her to find a place to put the garment.

Driving back to Sharpay's, Troy was the happiest he had been in a while. That conversation was the cause for his joy. He finally had his Taylor back and he was ecstatic! Hearing her say that she still loves him made him beam just at the thought. And now knowing that they could go back to being the cute couple they used to be before the mess... well, Troy was a very happy man. His happiness was short lived as he thought back to how he lied to her. He wanted to tell her the truth, he really did want to tell her not only why he had visited her on that day but why he'd left her, but he knew that she wouldn't have given him a second chance if she knew. How would he break it to her? No matter what way he would tell her, it would still be harsh. How can you gently break it to someone that the only reason why you chose to come visit them on that day was because they were only a few miles away from you because you were visiting someone else on the same day? Who was this someone else? Oh, just some girl who you had been messing around with since towards the end of summer while your girlfriend got settled in at her college. Also, this same girl was the reason you abandoned your girlfriend because you feared she would leave you if she found out about your cheating, so you did it before she could.

Yeah, there was no way in hell he was going to tell Taylor the true reasons.

**Shorter than what I've been doing lately but I still hope you enjoyed that.**

**Reviews are appreciated **

**R&R**

**MissMercedesJade**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for the late, extremely late actually, update but here it is! Thank you for your reviews, I loved reading them. If you think I'm going too fast or if I should speed things up, don't be afraid to tell me.**

**Disclaimer**- I own nothing except for character's feelings, actions and any original characters and places.

"So Taylor, when were you planning on telling me that you and Bolton are back together?" Sharpay questioned, returning a pair of lime green stilettos back on the shelf. Gabriella and Kelsi shared a look before quickly heading towards the three females (Aries included). Taylor frantically looked around to make sure no one had heard before running the hand that wasn't holding Ari's hand, through her hair.

"Jeez, tell the whole world, why don't you!"

"So you're not denying that you and Troy are back together?" She watched as Taylor bit her lower lip and nervously glanced around the store.

"I'm not denying anything, nor am I admitting anything. We're ... working things out." She gave them a look and walked towards a shelf that her daughter kept eyeing before turning around to face them. "No further discussion on the issue. Case closed." Sharpay opened her mouth to talk, but Gabriella and Kelsi burst out into laughter before she could say anything.

"They're back together. I know it." Sharpay stated, narrowing her eyes at Taylor, who continued to pick up shoes only to place them back where she found them.

"And what exactly makes you say that?"

"Because last night, or this morning, whatever suits you, at my little party, I saw Tay leave Troy's room at 4:30am even though I'd sent her in his room to give him back his phone at 12:30." Gabriella's mouth dropped open at that and she pinched Sharpay's arm. "Ouch! What?"

"Why didn't you tell me this piece of information?" Sharpay pinched the brunette girl back before rolling her eyes.

"Woops, slipped my mind." She claimed sarcastically before fake smiling and waving at Taylor when she turned around and narrowed her eyes at them accusingly.

"But Shar, what if it was just a onetime thing? A one night stand?"

"Between exes? Who have a history like Troy and Tay? Oh no, that wasn't a one night stand. If I'm guessing correctly, then the explanation for Troy dashing out of the house so quickly this morning and asking for her work address would be that he went to confront Taylor on what happened... And judging by the smile he had on his face when he returned..."

"They're back together." Hearing the last words of their conversation, Taylor made her way back to the three women.

"Thought I said this case was closed?" Taylor spoke firmly, watching as Gabriella brought out her phone to check the time.

"You guys, its 12:45, get back to work and give me my sweet bundle of joy!" she exclaimed, reaching out for Aries, who giggled and ran into her embrace. Taylor and Sharpay both rolled their eyes before sighing.

"Take care of my baby and Ari make sure you behave for your Aunt Gabi & Kelsi, okay?" Aries nodded, before Taylor went to hug her and kiss her on the cheek. "Bye! Come on Sharpay, you're dropping me off to work."

-.-

"Troy?"

"What?"

"Are you and Taylor back together?" A small smile crept up on Troy's face as he thought about Taylor and what had transpired that morning. He snapped back into reality and looked up into the curious faces of Zeke, Jason, and Ryan & Chad.

"We...uh, we're working things out. We're trying again."

"That's great man! But uh... why are you still alive?" Chad chuckled, leaning back on the chair and placing his hands behind his head and laughing harder when the other guys, minus Troy, laughed along.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?" asked Troy defensively.

"You and Tay are technically back together, right?" Troy nodded and motioned for Chad to go on, but Zeke answered for him.

"So that means you told her about Casey, right?" Troy immediately tensed up and that gave Zeke all the answer he needed. "Oh snap!" None of them managed to hear the door open and close, as Troy shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"You didn't tell her about Casey? Troy, what the hell are you doing? How the hell are you planning on trying again with Tay when you haven't even told her about Casey?" Ryan exclaimed, taking a sip of water from his glass when he had finished.

"..Um, pardon me for my cluelessness but who the hell is Casey?" Jason quizzed, looking around for someone to explain to him. Everyone looked to Troy to answer the question, but when he didn't, Chad spoke up.

"Casey is the reason why Troy abandoned Taylor. You see Jason, my friend, whilst Taylor was settling in at U of A and Troy here was over at Berkley, and he got bored and started sleeping with a blonde bombshell as he called her, named Casey, who was in California for the summer, but actually went to college in Albuquerque." Chad paused and looked over at Troy, who seemed to look miserable at the memory. "So then one day, Troy went to go visit Casey in Albuquerque, and he slept with her for the last time, but then whilst on his way back to Cali, he surprised Taylor with a visit and slept with her. And the next part of the story we all know well..."

The sound of heels clicking further into the room caused all the men to turn around and stare into the shocked eyes of Gabriella and Kelsi and the innocent eyes of Aries. "Did my ears just deceive me or did I just hear Chad explain that Troy cheated on Taylor?" Gabriella glared at Troy as Kelsi ambled towards Ryan, sitting on his lap as she too glared daggers at Troy. Instead of answering her, Troy got up from his seat and went over to kneel in front of Aries who wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on as he hoisted her up.

"Hey Ari, how are you doing?" he question her sweetly, completely ignoring Gabriella and all the stares that he was getting from around the room.

"I'm good. Troy what's your last name?" she asked, innocently playing with the chain around his neck.

"Bolton, why?"

"Oh. Mommy, Aunt Sharpay, Aunt Gabi and Aunt Kelsi were talking about you in the shoe shop." Troy raised an eyebrow at her and looked up to Kelsi and Gabriella.

"Is that so? What were they saying?"

"Aries can't tell you that, Troy. What happens with the girls stays with the girls. Right Ari?" The little girl giggled and nodded.

"Troy, can we go pick up mommy from work today?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll call her to let her know we're coming. Um, Gabriella, can I talk to you for a second... in the kitchen?" Gabriella only rolled her eyes and proceeded to head to the kitchen. "Ari, I'll be right back and then we can play the counting game okay?" Ari grinned up at him before he put her down. "Now go play with Uncle Chad, I'm sure he wants to get to know you."

-.-

"Gabi..."

"You cheated on Taylor? Troy you cheated on one of my best friends and now you're getting back together with her and you don't even have the decency to tell her?" she reached out and continuously smacked Troy's arm, until he held onto her wrist, stopping her from hitting him again. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Gabriella... calm down, okay."

"I will not calm down! Troy, you don't understand how much Taylor blamed herself for you leaving her! She thought it was all her fault... but it was you! You not being able to keep it in your pants and cheating on her with some blonde bimbo! Troy-."

"I love Taylor, Gabi, and I know; I fucked up big by cheating on her."

"Yes you did." Troy shot Gabriella a stern look to tell her to allow him to finish.

"But I've finally got her back. After 3 years, I have her back and I want to keep her. So if it means lying to her and not telling her the true reason why I left her, then so be it. But Gabriella I need your trust. You need to promise me that you won't tell Sharpay or Taylor about what happened, please."

"Taylor deserves to know what you did." He sighed, before running a hand over his face and looking down.

"I know and I'll tell her in my own time. But for now, I need your word that you won't tell Sharpay or Taylor. Please." Gabriella rolled her eyes frustrated.

"Fine, I'll stay quiet... for now." She hopped up onto the counter and folded her arms, tilting her head to look at Troy.

"So when are you going back to LA?" Gabriella asked, reaching next to her inside the bowl to grab and apple. Her question made Troy's face fall. He hadn't thought about that as it hadn't crossed his mind. Only now did it strike him that he was leaving on Wednesday. The reunion was on Sunday, and after that, he only had 3 days before he had to jet back to his other life. He needed to talk to Taylor about this before he left. "Troy?"

"Wednesday. I, uh, I go back on Wednesday."

"So are you and Tay gonna do the long distance thing?"

"To be honest, Gabi, I don't know. Bare in mind we technically just got back together this morning so we haven't talked about much yet. I don't want to do long distance but both I and Tay have our separate lives so it's complicated." Gabriella nodded in understanding. "Hey, Gabi can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"You and Taylor are close right?" she nodded, raising an eyebrow at the question. "So she would've told you about any other guy she had been with after me, right?" Once again, his question was followed by a nod. "Do you... Do you by any chance know who Aries' father is?" he questioned nervously, looking up to meet her eyes. Staring at the nervousness and fear in Troy's eyes, Gabriella desperately wanted to tell the truth and tell him that _he_ was Aries' father, but she knew it wasn't in her place to do so.

"Troy, I wish I could tell you, honestly, I do. But it's not in my place to tell you; that's something you're going to have to talk to her about." She offered him a warm smile before jumping off the counter and heading back towards the living room. "Nice talk, Bolton." Giving him a playful slap on his shoulder, she left, leaving Troy to his own thoughts.

**A few hours later**

"Taylor?" asked Troy nervously as he observed her collecting up her things whilst still keeping Ari entertained. She lifted her head to meet his stare and offered him a smile.

"Yeah?" Troy thought against asking her whilst Ari was in the room as his eyes unintentionally drifted towards the care free yet observant three year old. Taylor caught his look and lightly turned her daughter towards the shut office door. "Baby, why don't you go says hi to Blair, he misses you." Ari nodded and did as her mother said. Not bothering to knock, she pushed the door open and ran in, squealing out Blair's name. "Now, what's up, Troy?" He sighed, his vision drifting to his feet before he finally looked up towards her gaze.

"Who's Aries' father?" Judging by Taylor's expression, the question caught her off guard. Completely. Her mouth kept opening and closing, as if she wanted to say something but she didn't know exactly how to come about saying it.

She had to think fast. Her mental debate on when to tell Troy about Ari being his, whether she even wanted to tell him, was coming to a decision now. "She's uh... Blair's. Yeah, Blair's." Troy blinked. He didn't know what to expect but at least he knew now. "Troy?"

"Huh?" he flashed a quick smile. "I'm fine. I just wanted to know."

"Well... now you know. And now there aren't any secrets, right?" she gave him a weary smile as he nodded, before leaning in to hug him and placing a chaste kiss on his lips. "Good. I need to quickly go give Becky the dates for the test fire drills. Becky's Mr Gilligans new—you know what, let me go. I'll be back." Planting one last kiss on his smirking lips, she left. Troy immediately frowned as he thought about how Taylor's child was another man's'. To be honest he should've expected it. What exactly was he expecting? For Aries to be his child? No, if Taylor had been pregnant she would've at least had the decency to tell him. But then again, he had broken her heart and cheated on her, even though she wasn't and still isn't aware of the latter.

He headed towards Blair's office door and leaned on the door, watching Aries propped up on Blair's lap as he tried to do some paperwork. He could slightly see the father-daughter connection as Ari tried her hardest to distract him. Blair calmly placed his pen on the desk and turned to face the little girl, who was trying her hardest not to laugh. Suddenly, her contagious giggles filled the room as Blair tickled her. Troy couldn't help but laugh along and that's when his presence was acknowledged. Blair paused in tickling Aries and turned to face Troy, keeping an arm around Ari to keep her from falling. "Troy Bolton, right?"

"The one and only." He joked, moving to go shake Blair's hand. Blair gently placed Ari down and stood up, walking around his desk to go and greet Troy.

"So I'm guessing you and Tay are back together now?"

"How did you-."

"She tells me everything." He laughed as Troy's nodded, an awkward silence falling upon both men.

"Does she? That's uh, that's great, that exes can be so comfortable around each other like that." Blair's confused face didn't go unnoticed by Troy.

"Exes?"

"Well yeah, I mean, since your Aries' father, I'm only guessing you guys had a relationship, unless it was just a one night stand then-." Troy rambled, but he suddenly stopped when Blair's chuckles got louder.

"That girl..."

"I don't-, what's so funny?" Blair opened his mouth to answer, but then he went over to Aries and put his hands over her ears, much to Aries annoyance, who kept trying to get him to remove his hands.

"Troy, I'm not Aries' father." Troy's face fell and abruptly turned into one of shock. Why would Taylor lie about that? "I know why Taylor may have said that... but believe me, I'm not Aries' dad. I mean come on now, look at her eyes. As beautiful as they are, they aren't mine. Nor are they Taylor's." That statement alone should've told Troy who exactly the father was, but Blair's words seemed to go straight over Troy's head.

"So... do you have any idea who her father might be?"

"I wish I could, Troy, believe me. But it's not in my place to tell you." Troy sucked his teeth, he'd heard that statement already today. "I will tell you however," he watched as Troy's eyebrows lifted, in anticipation for what Blair would say. "something else." Troy gave him a look that told him to carry on...

"Aries birthday is on June 10th and I'm pretty sure you know when Taylor's birthday is... Neither of them have the star sign of Aries. Troy, when's your birthday?"

**R&R, and oh, contrary to Troy's birthday in Something About Your Eyes, his birthday is not the same in this story, **


	10. Chapter 10

**Would any of you guys believe me if I told you that I wrote all of this on my Blackberry and edited it on my computer? Well, I did. I saw that most of you were anticipating this one the most so I decided to update this. The next chapters to Always Right and Something About Your Eyes have already been halfway written, they just need to be finished.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own anything apart from original characters and locations.**

**This chapter is rated M.**

Troy didn't hesitate to answer. "15th of April." Blair blinked as he watched Troy for any indication that he had understood.

"And which star sign does that make you?" He questioned, hoping that he would quickly catch on. Troy stayed silent just as Taylor knocked on the door, a nervous smile gracing her features. Aries ran to her & latched onto her hand. "Bye Aries. Taylor, tomorrow morning we have to talk & it was nice meeting you, Troy." Troy nodded and sent him a nod back as he exited his office. The entire ride down to the parking lot was in silence and Taylor was comfortable with it. As soon as she saw Troy in Blair's office, she became nervous. 'He probably confronted Blair about my lie. Argh. I should've just told him the truth and avoided this mess.'

"So, uh, what exactly did you and Blair talk about?" She asked, biting down on her lip & turning towards him as he smirked at her.

"Sports, the Lakers, you know, guy stuff." She breathed a sigh of relief, happy that she & Ari were not the topic of their conversation. "Hey, so I was looking into this star sign compatibility thing right, & I know you're a Scorpio, so I wanted to see if we were compatible. Do you, uh, do you know what my star sign is?" He held his breath as he awaited her answer. Okay, yes, it was a little sad that he didn't know his own star sign but he never really liked the stuff. To him, it was bullshit.

"You're an Aries, baby."

As soon as the words left Taylor's mouth, everything else seemed to click in place. Aries' name was based on his star sign, none of her family members that he knew of had a birthday around him, he would've remembered, which meant that she wasn't named after any of their signs . Aries' age, Blair said she was born in June three years ago. Subtract 9 months and you get the month that he and Taylor slept together. Her eyes! Gosh, he should've known just by looking at her. She had his eyes, only less blue! Troy nearly kicked himself when he remembered how when he had escorted Taylor home the night of the dinner when her car wouldn't start, Aries called him daddy! He was her father! He had a child! Taylor & him had a child.

Yet she hadn't had the decency to even tell him.

That fact alone angered him and he didn't realize he'd been so out of it for the past 10 minutes that he was quite surprised when he'd reached her house. He walked them to the door & when he bent down to hug Aries, he gazed into her eyes longer & pulled her into a loving hug. This was his daughter. His child. His seed. Something that was created from half of him. When he pulled away, Taylor had opened the door & turned back to him. Aries dashed straight in. "You want to come inside?" She asked seductively, her tongue snaking out to wet her lips. Troy simply nodded and stepped inside. "Ari, sweetie, go upstairs & I'll be there to give you a bath in a minute, okay?" The little girl nodded and raced upstairs. Instantly Taylor ran her hands across Troy's chest & placed small kisses on his jaw. "We have a minute."

Troy grabbed her hands, immediately stopping her. She stared at him; confused, as he made his way into the kitchen. "Whoa. Wha-whats wrong, Troy?" He didn't say anything for a full minute, which alarmed Taylor. "Troy?"

"When were you planning on telling me?" He asked bluntly, hurt etched in his voice. Taylor knew what he meant but she didn't want to answer.

"T-tell you what?" She turned her head to avoid any eye contact as he spoke his next words but Troy wasn't having it. He walked towards her and turned her chin so that she was facing him.

"That Aries was my daughter. Why didn't you tell me, Taylor?" The hurt had now been replaced with edge.

"I didn't know how." She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You didn't know how?" He let go of her chin and took a step back. "How about, 'Troy, I know I'm mad at you, but I'm pregnant!'?" Taylor opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. "This is major, Taylor! How can you seriously keep such a thing from me? I've missed so many things in her life already. Did you think about that? How did you feel when you watched her walk for the first time? Or talk for the first time? How did you feel when you first held her?" He snapped, his voice rising a little & his chest heaving.

"I felt proud & I instantly fell in love with her when I held her." She spoke quietly, still avoiding all contact. She felt like the meanest person on Earth, but she knew what her reasons were by not telling Troy.

"Did it ever occur to you that I may have wanted to experience those emotions?" Taylor shook her head and Troy chuckled bitterly, moving so he could leave.

"What was I supposed to do though, Troy? You had already given me the impression that you didn't love me anymore & you wanted nothing to do with me. If you could reject me so easily, what would stop you from rejecting our child?" Now it was Troy's turn to be quiet. She didn't want their night to end on a sour note so she ambled over to him, tenderly stroking his arms. "Then there was the fact that I knew you wanted to go and be a part of the NBA someday and a child would've made getting to your dreams harder. I didn't want you to give up your dreams even though I did mine." She whispered the last part and Troy looked up at her, cupping her face.

"Taylor-."

"And besides, you would've been all the way in California whilst I was here in Albuquerque. Wouldn't have worked out and-." Troy kissed her forehead gently to get her to stop talking.

"What do you mean you gave up your dreams?"

She sighed before absentmindedly playing with the buttons on his shirt. "I ended up only going to college for a year and a half in total. The year was during my pregnancy & then one added semester from when I thought I could balance out having a baby and going to school but," she shook her head. "Didn't exactly work out, so I dropped out of U of A and started doing other small little jobs, and then luckily, last year, I got the job I'm at now. An assistant. A-and its great and all but... I don't know." He engulfed her into a warm embrace and they stood still for a couple of seconds, neither saying a word. "I'm sorry for not telling you."

"Its okay, but I'm here now, right?" They both pulled back and stared at each other, wanting to savour the moment.

"Yeah, but you're leaving soon I'm guessing?" Troy closed his eyes at the thought. He forgot, he was meant to talk about that with Taylor. At least she had now reminded him. "What are we gonna do? Long distance? Aries and I coming to LA for holidays?"

"I'm not doing long distance. I don't think I'd be able to not be with you for long periods of time now that we're together again. Nope, I don't want to have to wait till the holidays to see you & Aries."

"So then what are we going to do, Troy?" She exclaimed frantically.

"We're going to take this a day at a time, alright? We're not gonna think of the fact that I leave on Wednesday," Taylor's eyes went wide. That was not long. "Just gonna have fun. You, me and Ari, okay? You with me? We'll think about everything else when the time comes." Taylor forced a smile onto her face and nodded.

"I'll be back, I need to go bathe Ari & put her to bed." She saw the hopeful look in Troy's eyes as he nodded. "You wanna come?"

"A-are you sure its alright?" He stuttered as she grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs. They entered the room to see Ari on the floor playing with a bunch of her toys.

"Hey Ari, guess who's gonna be the one to put you to bed tonight?" Taylor spoke in a sweet voice as she picked her up and turned her towards Troy. "Daddy!" Aries cheered in excitement & squirmed, trying to get out of Taylor's grasp. "Hold on, I still need to get you washed up! Then you can go on over to Troy. 10 minutes, babe." She bounced Aries towards the bathroom, answering her questions. 10 minutes later and clad in her pyjamas, Ari came running out, straight into Troy's arms.

"Troy, can you read me this one? And do the funny voices like mommy does pleaaaaaaaase!" Troy couldn't help but chuckle at her behaviour. She did remind him of himself back when he was younger. As he began reading, he didn't notice Taylor slipping out of the room. As he nearly finished the story, Aries' eyes had shut and her breathing had evened out. He gently opened her covers and put her to bed, kissing the top of her head and leaving. He made sure to turn her lights off and shut the door on his way out. Now, he just had to go say goodbye to Taylor and then he'd be on his way back to Sharpay's to confront her, because he knew that she knew about Aries being his.

He walked towards the only other room that had a light on apart from the bathroom and knocked on it. "You can go into my bedroom, Troy; I'll be out in a minute." Taylor called from the bathroom which was behind him. As soon as Troy walked in, he took in the colours that surrounded Taylor's room. The beige & the browns made him remember how she always said that when she gets her own house, she would keep it natural, with hints of her favourite colour still in there. Those hints of purple were certainly there. Her bedside lamp was a deep mauve and her sheets were dark purple satin. He moved further into the room and was about to touch a few things when the door shut behind him. He turned around and his breath caught in his throat. There she stood wearing nothing but a short, purple silk robe which was open, exposing her supple chocolate skin. "You like?" She questioned, striding past him, towards her vanity mirror, where she began to apply lotion to her body. Troy nodded like a fool and didn't stop. Taylor chuckled as she stared at him through the mirror. "I meant my room, Troy."

"Oh, y-yeah, so did I." He offered her a small smile as he made himself comfortable on her bed. She bent over to moisturize her legs & Troy reached behind himself to grab a pillow in an attempt to hide his growing hard on. "It was uh, it was really nice reading to Aries, and I can already feel myself getting attached to her." He chuckled and looked away, if he continued to look, he would never leave. When he looked up, Taylor had made her way over to him and was now straddling his lap. Instinctively, one hand went to her back to hold her up and the other one lay on her hip.

"Is that so?" Taylor asked, leaning down and planting sensual kisses on the column of his neck.

"Yep. Anyway, I just came to say goodbye to you, I don't want Sharpay to get worried." He told her, fighting the urge to rip off her robe and take her right there but he couldn't do that whilst Aries was in the next room.

As if she could read his mind, she pulled back and removed the only garment she had on left. "Ari sleeps just like you, she won't hear a thing & I'm definite that Shar won't be worried." She resumed her attack on his neck and grinned to herself when he flipped her over and reached down to massage her breasts. Her hand went down to stroke his dick through the material of his jeans. He placed a sloppy kiss on the base of her throat and licked his way down, sucking and lightly nipping on her nipples, which made Taylor gasp in pleasure and run her hands through his hair.

Troy reached the top of her pussy and French kissed it as he went lower, where he stuck his tongue in as deep as it would go. "SHIT! TROY, uh!" Taylor hollered, as he proceeded to lick, suck, nip &tongue fuck her pussy. He felt her walls tighten around his tongue and he pulled out. "The fuck?" Taylor exclaimed when she couldn't feel his tongue anymore. She was so close to exploding, she could still feel a buzz in between her legs.

"I seem to remember you promised we'd finish our conversation that we had in Sharpay's basement." Taylor shot him a confused look.

"What conver- OH!" She was cut off midway as Troy stuck 2 fingers inside her as deep as he could go. Pulling back, he rammed them into her again, making Taylor whimper & grab onto his shoulders. "Open your eyes, baby, let me see you cum." Those words alone done it for her and her entire body shook as she exploded all over his hand, her juices staining his jeans and his fingers but he wasn't done yet. He pushed her clit hard with his thumb, remembering how that drove her crazy. He slowly rotated his thumb, going in slow circles as he continued to move his fingers. It didn't take long before she came again, this time harder than the first.

He removed his fingers and licked them up and down, smiling at her familiar taste. Taylor lay panting before him, trying to catch her breath. He leaned forward and joint their lips in a passionate kiss. "Goodnight, Taylor." With one last peck, he left the room and a still disorientated Taylor. He smiled as he looked towards Aries' door and jogged downstairs, shutting the door on his way out.

He used the spare key that Zeke had given him and entered the house, not noticing Sharpay sitting on one of the steps. "You and I have to talk." He stated firmly, walking to the kitchen knowing she would follow.

"Yes we do. Have you & Taylor finally come to your-." She was cut off when Troy's sapphire eyes blazed towards her.

"Why didn't you tell me that Aries was my child?" Sharpay was stunned. She wasn't expecting that at all.

"How did you-."

"Figure it out? When all the signs are literally sitting right infront of you, it doesn't take long before you realize." He stated, watching as Sharpay folded her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"When you left, it gave everyone the impression that you didn't want anything to do with Tay and-."

"Taylor said the exact same thing but come on! This was a child! And wh-why didn't you tell me when I arrived?"

"STOP interrupting me Bolton. I don't have to explain jack shit to you, so I am going to sleep. But let me tell you now that I was the one who kept pushing Tay to tell you the truth so you are getting pissy with the wrong person!" She stormed off and slammed her bedroom door shut, leaving Troy on his own.

The next few days seemed to go by in a blur for the entire gang. Troy and Taylor finally told them that they were working things out, Troy was getting used to having a daughter and Sharpay was still giving Troy the silent treatment. It was Sunday night, the night of the reunion and Troy had come over to Taylor's house to pick her up. "Did I tell you that you look gorgeous tonight?" He grabbed her and pulled her close so that their lips were only an inch apart.

Taylor smirked. "You may have said that... Once or twice." They both leaned forward and were locked in a wet kiss when Taylor's mother cleared her throat. "Ma!" Taylor whined at her interruption.

"Nice to see you again, Mrs McKessie." Troy greeted, waving shyly & blushing. "Come on, we're gonna be late."

"Ooh, let me just show my mom and Ari out and then we can go." Ari came running into the room at the mention of her name and latched onto Troy's legs. "Say bye to daddy, sweetie."

"Bye daddy! I'll miss you." Troy could feel his eyes welling up. Damn, he'd only known her as his daughter for 3 days and already she was making him cry. "I'll miss you too, mommy." Taylor kissed her cheek and watched as her mother took her, hugged Troy goodbye and turned towards her.

"I'll be back." She told him, before leaving to go and escort her mother to her car. As soon as she had left Troy's phone buzzed. He opened it and answered.

"Gabriella?"

"Yeah, are you and Taylor on your way?" She asked as Troy turned to find somewhere to sit.

"We're about to be. Just waiting on her to finish up with Mrs McKessie and then we'll be going, why?"

"Oh, I was just curious. So, when exactly are you gonna tell Taylor about Casey, Troy? Cos believe me, if you don't, I'm more than happy to do it for you. She has to know." She was acting as if he didn't already know that. Every time he was with her he thought about telling her, then he'd get another thought about her leaving him and he didn't want that to happen.

"I'll tell her in my own time, Gabriella. Understand that, okay? This is hard for me but I promise I will tell Taylor soon."

"Tell me what?" He jumped as her voice appeared from behind him and he shut his phone quickly, turning towards her and flashing a smile.

"Nothing you need to worry your beautiful self over. Let's go, I wanna see how some of these bastards turned out." Taylor chuckled at Troy's comment as she locked up behind him.

"You would never believe what Sharpay told me, babe. You remember that guy, Marcus Jones?" Troy opened the door for her and jogged over to his side when she had gotten in.

"You mean the one who declared his undying love for you at prom? The one I nearly beat the shit out of? What about him?" They both remembered the guy who was in nearly all of Taylor's AP classes. He'd always had a crush on Taylor but she never returned his feelings. Then came prom night where he'd approached with his new look. Gone were his glasses, replaced with piercing blue contact lenses that didn't blend in well with his mocha skin. He'd dragged Taylor away from Sharpay to tell her how much he loved her and he'd forcefully stuck his tongue deep into her mouth, only stopping when she grabbed his jewels, bringing him down onto his knees.

"Yes, him. Apparently he got himself a sexy girlfriend who apparently has some strange link to me. He's bringing her tonight so I can't wait to see that." They both chuckled and fell into a comfortable silence. It didn't take 30 minutes before they had reached East High. Troy was first to get out, opening the door for Taylor and taking her hand. "They went all out didn't they?" she laughed as she took in the vibrant colours on the outside, the many people pouring in and the music blasting from the inside.

"I'll be back, I think I spotted my dad." Taylor nodded and proceeded to go and greet her old classmates. On his way towards his father, he bumped into a figure. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to-." He was cut short as he stared into a familiar face.

"Why if it isn't Troy Bolton?"

Troy sighed and turned around to make sure no one else was near. "Casey."

**Oh snap! Let me tell you know, things are about to pop off in the next two chapters, seriously! So just bare with me as I get my ish together.**

**R&R**

**OriginallyImperfect**


	11. Chapter 11

**I keep getting ideas for this, so I keep updating this story. Which makes me feel bad for my other stories but hey, I'm inspired. Thank you for the reviews, I actually love you guys. Mwah! Thank you.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own anything.**

"Oh, so you do remember me, huh? I would've thought you didn't seeing as you haven't come to see me for some fun in a year and a half." she took a step towards Troy, not bothered when he grabbed a hold of her arm and dragged her to a secluded hallway. "Ooh, I knew you missed me! And you know I like it rough!" She purred, pushing herself against him and frowning when he pushed her back.

"What... The fuck, are you doing here? You never went to East High?"

She rolled her eyes at him and shrugged nonchalantly. "My date did. You know, I found it quite creepy at first how he'd stalked me and researched me, but he had a good plan... And he pays well." Troy got a bad feeling that he knew who her date was.

"What's your dates' name?"

"Marcus Jones." She laughed when she saw his face twist in anger. "Yeah, he said you knew each other. In his words, you are 'the son of a bitch who stole his Queen'. If you ask me, the dude is pathetic. But as I said, he pays well."

"What's his plan?" She crossed the space between them till she was standing directly in front of him, ocean blue meeting emerald green.

"As much as I'd love to reveal our plans for tonight, I can't." She quickly pecked him on the lips and turned to leave, her hips swaying. "See you later, baby." As soon as he couldn't see her blonde hair anymore, he allowed his anger to control him.

Tables pushed in every direction. Chairs flipped over. Books knocked over. "FUCK!" He cursed at his newly found situation. No matter what, he had to make sure that Taylor didn't see Casey or even talk to her or acknowledge who she was. He straightened his tie, not even bothering to fix up the mess he'd created and left to go find Taylor. An automatic friendly smile made its way onto his face as he saw people he used to talk to walk past and wave.

Anger flowed through him as he spotted his Taylor, looking absolutely radiant in her blood red knee length dress, talking to none other than Marcus Jones. When Troy saw his hand reach out and lay on her elbow, he saw red and stormed over to the pair. He snaked his arm around Taylor's waist, pulling her against him and glared at Marcus. "M-Marcus, you remember Troy, right?"

"Of course I do. He's the lucky bastard who scooped you up." He lightly punched Troy in the arm, his smile dropping as Troy showed no signs of understanding his humour. "Look Troy, all that shit happened like nearly 4 years ago, I don't..." The look on Marcus' face made it seem as if he was having trouble saying the next few words. "I don't feel that way about Tay anymore. I've moved on." Taylor's smile grew at those words and she turned to face Troy, her smile turning into a frown as he scoffed.

"Troy!" She scolded, lightly shoving him in his side. "I'm sorry, Marcus. Why don't you tell Troy what you just told me about? The new youth programme you're developing."

"Actually, I would much rather you and I, Taylor, leave this party early and have a party of our own at home." He winked at her and pulled her in for a kiss, grinning when she pulled away after he lightly nibbled on her full bottom lip.

"Oh hey, baby, there you are. Where did you go?" Troy and Taylor both turned around to face Marcus and the girl who'd just approached them, Troy's face quickly turning into a scowl.

"Oh nowhere, just needed to freshen up. Hey, I'm Casey Richards, nice to meet you." She extended her hand out to Taylor who smiled and shook it. "Marcus, let's go dance!"

"Sure, it was nice seeing you again Taylor." Taylor nodded and watched him turn to leave.

"It was nice meeting you, Taylor. Good to see you again, Troy." She sent Troy a wink and bit her lip as she turned back to Marcus and walked over to the dance floor with him. Troy didn't know whether to start explaining what that was about or whether he should try and come up with a lie, but when he opened his mouth to speak Taylor placed a hand on his chest.

"Ex bed buddy? Its okay, I understand, I'm not mad. Let's go dance before the gang get here." Troy swore at that moment this was truly the woman he loved. She didn't even get angry at what Casey had done. It also made him feel extremely guilty because Casey was not only an ex bed buddy, she was the woman he'd cheated on Taylor with. But he couldn't let her know that. Not yet, not now and to be honest, he never wanted to tell her. He crashed his lips down to hers and held her in an iron grip that she couldn't escape out of.

Her own lips parted, giving him access into her mouth and she lovingly caressed his face as he continued to attack her mouth. These types of kisses were the ones that made Taylor anticipate the next moment she'd see Troy back in high school. They left her breathless, clueless and damn right horny. When he pulled back slightly, he gave Taylor's bottom lip one last lick and bite before staring at her intensely, noticing how her eyes had glazed over with lust and her lips were slightly plumper. "I love you." He said the words firmly so that Taylor knew he meant every single word.

"I love you too." They pecked each other once more before Troy led her towards the make shift dance floor, watching as Marcus' eye drifted to Taylor, who was giggling as Troy spun her around. "Don't look now, but your ex bed buddy is keeping a serious eye on you." Troy didn't even bother to turn around. He didn't want to. At that moment, all he cared about was Taylor and making her smile. He was about to spin her around again when the DJ spoke.

"Alright now, we're gonna slow it down a bit, so everybody grab somebody special or the cutest person you can find and get on down to the dance floor." Suddenly, the sounds of R Kelly stopped as the slow melody of Beyonce's 'Flaws and All' filled the gym. Both Troy and Taylor gave each other a look before Troy took her into his arms, his arms holding her tightly around her waist whilst her arms went around his neck. They swayed side to side, letting the music guide their movements.

"Taylor?" She lifted her head and looked into his eyes, which were filled with worry. "Can you promise me you'll always love me? No matter what happens. I need to know that no matter what happens or what situation we get ourselves in, you will always love me. I mean, that's the only way I'll be able to pull through each day. Knowing that you love me and that you'll be there for-." He was cut off as Taylor pulled his head down, locking him in a passionate kiss.

"I will always love you, Troy. Always have and I always will."

They continued to dance until they finally spotted Gabriella, Kelsi and Sharpay walking out of the bathroom. Taylor smiled at Troy, who nodded and made his way over to the bar as Taylor approached the girls. "Taylor, you look... Hot!" Sharpay gushed; admiring the way the dress hugged all of Taylor's curves but stopped just above her knee. Taylor blushed as they sat down and admired the setting.

"Do you guys miss East High?" Kelsi asked suddenly, pushing her curly hair back. The girls each turned to look at each other, smiles plastered on their faces.

"I do. I miss the whole process of going to your locker in the morning and catching up on the latest gossip." They all giggled and nodded at Gabriella's comment.

"I miss our lunch times all together. It always made me look forward to the end of whatever lesson was before our lunch period. We all just sat down and talked and talked, feeling so comfortable around each other." Taylor spoke, staring out into space as she reminisced those times.

"You know what I don't miss?" they all turned to Kelsi for her to continue. "Zeke and Sharpay's arguments every fortnight." The whole table groaned and the rest of them fell into laughter apart from Sharpay who folded her arms.

"Hey, it made us a stronger couple! And you were all part of annoying couples. Kelsi, you and Ryan just could _not_ stop writing songs. I swear it drove me insane." Gabriella and Taylor nodded. "The littlest situation would set you off. Gabriella getting her first B, you wrote a song called 'Not Always Perfect', Taylor passing driver's ed, you wrote a song called 'Driven To Success'. And oh my gosh, this one totally had me nearly strangling you both. When I bought Ryan a hat that he actually liked, you both teamed up and wrote a song called 'Know What I Want'." At the end of her speech, Gabriella and Taylor were in stitches, cracking up at all the memories.

"You know I still have all the music sheets for those songs." At this point they were all clutching their stomachs in laughter, Gabriella being the loudest. "And what about you Mrs Danforth? Huh? You and Chad were always playing jokes on each other!"

"And most of the time that shit wasn't even funny. Especially when you both teamed up and attacked one of us." Taylor rolled her eyes, remembering the incident when they placed Ryan's pet tarantula in her gloves on a cold winter night when they were staying at Sharpay's house. Taylor screamed so loud that Troy had nearly broke his neck trying to race down the stairs to find out what was the matter, his pants falling as he'd just rushed out of the bathroom. She ignored both Gabriella and Chad for a week until they bought her a new pair of gloves.

"Oh please Tay, don't roll your eyes. What about you and Troy? You guys were nymphos. Always ditching us to go have sex at the nearest place you could find. You missed my 17th birthday party because Troy decided to keep you in his house all day, the one day both of his parents were out. I'm guessing nothing's changed?" Judging by the blush that appeared on Taylor's face, Gabriella was completely correct.

"Is this why I haven't seen you or Troy that much for the past 2/3 days? He's really going at it, huh? I hope you guys are using condoms." Taylor grabbed the flute of champagne that stood on the silver tray as the young man walked past. Taking a big gulp, she put it back down. They were using them... every other time. In their opinion it just slowed down the process and ruined the mood!

"Not that it's any of you hoes' business but... We're making up for lost time, yes. You know Ari walked in on us yesterday? We thought she was still asleep so we were going at it... and when I say going at it, I mean _going at it._ Anyway, suddenly the door opens just as Troy's pulling out; luckily we were under the covers so to her it just looked like Troy was on top of me."

"Did the poor girl suspect anything?" Sharpay asked, horrified for the youngster.

"No. We both heard her so we instantly closed our eyes and fake snored." The ladies laughed at Taylor's memory as Taylor took another sip. "I miss her. Let me call and see how she's doing, I'll be back." She excused herself from the table, heading outside to check up on her daughter.

Meanwhile over at the bar, Troy was nursing his glass of bourbon, putting his phone away after replying to Zeke's text about the rest of the guys heading back to Zeke's quickly then coming back to the reunion. "JD and Coke, please." Troy rolled his eyes at the voice. The person took the seat beside Troy and groaned when he finally sat. "How've you been, Troy? I mean, it's a dumb question; you're always all over the news, what happened? They all think you've gone missing or something." He chuckled lightly as Troy said nothing. "Troy, I hope there still isn't any bad blood between us. Like I told you, I've moved on."

"You may have fooled Taylor, but I'm not stupid, Jones. You still have that look in your eyes every time you look at her. You still want her. But in case you didn't notice, she's mine." Marcus sneered as he took a sip of his drink.

"I should've slipped in when your stupid ass left her. Tell me Troy, have you told her about cheating on her with Casey yet?" Troy couldn't help but chuckle bitterly.

"The bitch told you." Finishing off his drink, Troy stood up and leaned in close to Marcus' ear. "Look here, you dick. Casey was a mistake, nothing more, nothing less. And whatever plan you and little Miss Richards have will not work. Taylor loves me, a real man, something your ass will never be." He pulled back and patted Marcus' shoulder. "You have a good night."

Marcus' eyes narrowed as he thought of how well his night was going to turn out if everything went to plan.

Outside, Taylor had just ended her call and she rubbed her arms as she felt just how cold it was. There was hardly anybody outside; only two who had came outside to have a quick smoke. She smiled at them when they waved and decided to take a quick walk. The girls wouldn't mind, she'd be back in a couple of minutes. As she began to walk, she didn't realise someone was walking behind her. "Taylor!" the person called out, trying to catch up to her. Taylor held in her groan when she saw it was the blonde who had winked at Troy. "Hey, mind if I walk with you?"

"Sure. Casey, right?" Taylor was just trying to make conversation. The one thing she hated was awkward silences.

"Yeah, that's me. It's so stuffy inside. Just needed some air to breathe, ya know?" Taylor nodded and grinned as they kept walking round.

"How do you know Marcus?"

"Oh, we just bumped into each other one day in California and we instantly clicked. He invited me out here to meet his parents and the reunion just so happened to be in the same week." She shrugged and offered Taylor a smile. "Troy looks good tonight, don't you think?"

Taylor suddenly stopped walking. "Okay look, I know you and Troy used to be bed buddies but that was a long time ago. I'm his woman, understand?" Casey's eyebrow raised but she nodded nevertheless.

"I understand. Hey, can I ask where did you go to college?" the innocence in her voice bothered Taylor completely and it made her dislike this woman even more.

"I went to U of A."

"I went to college in Albuquerque too! Which year did you start?"

"2009." At this point, Taylor was confused as to where the conversation was headed. Whatever this chick was up to could not be good. Taylor looked back to the entrance of East High, just wanting to go back inside because the sudden knot in her abdomen let her know that this conversation was not headed somewhere good.

"Ah, me too! Actually, that was a good month. Troy came to visit me whilst I was finally getting settled in. We'd just had a crazy summer whilst I was on holiday in California and he was at his college. It was an amazing summer. He is so good with his hands, but I'm guessing you already know that." She nudged Taylor, who had now frozen, her eyes narrowed into slits. "Anyway, he came on... I think the date was round about late August, and we had sex about 3 times." She laughed as if it were her own private joke. "Then I lost contact with him. Until about a couple months later where we continued to see each other... if you know what I mean, up till a year and a half ago. I haven't seen him since." The loud sound of skin connecting to skin echoed around them. Taylor took a step forward to Casey, her brown eyes blazing.

"Listen here, you bitch. You're sick! You've also done your research well but I know your ass is lying because you want Troy back but as I said already, I'm his woman and nothing is going to change that. Especially not some fake ass Barbie like you. So I suggest you don't go anywhere near me and Troy tonight as soon as I leave you or else I swear to God I will fuck you up, you hear me?" She left without another word, leaving a frowning Casey in her wake. This was going to be harder than she thought. She reached into her dress for her phone and texted Marcus, saying: '_She didn't believe me, get the video ready.'_ Flipping her hair back, she swayed her hips as she strut back into East High.

"I've been looking for you." Taylor smiled wearily as arms circled her waist and warm lips found her neck. "Where did you go?" She turned around to face him and reached up to cup his face, studying his features. No way would Troy have cheated on her. Abandoning her is one thing but cheating is something entirely different. Something that Taylor had constantly spoken out about on how disgusting she thought it was.

"Just... needed some fresh air." She pushed his lips into a pucker and connected their lips, pulling back. Troy was about to comment on the action when he spotted Principal Matsui hit the stage. At that exact moment, Jason, Ryan, Zeke and Chad burst into the room, causing everyone around to focus on them. They'd done this on purpose.

"Everybody... Everyone, if you could all find your seats, please." Troy led Taylor back to their assigned table, shaking his head at the boys who'd made a scene because they were fashionably late.

"We would've called you and told you to join us on this but we know how whipped Tay has you." Taylor fixed Chad with a sharp glare and he immediately turned back to the stage.

"Now it's time for the awards. Before you guys left, you all voted for nominees to win different categories. In case any of you have forgotten, this video is just to remind you." He stepped aside as the crowd 'Whoo!'ed, the lights dimmed and a huge projector screen descended. They all laughed as the basketball team yelled 'Wildcats!' and the video began. All different awards were handed out. Most of them going to the true Wildcats gang.

'_Best Dressed: Sharpay Evans' _the screen flashed to different shots of Sharpay's outrageous outfits, the crowd erupting in laughter.

'_Best Couple: Troy Bolton and Taylor McKessie' _a few screenshots of Troy and Taylor flashed across the screen, making Troy pull Taylor closer to him, his grip on her shoulder tightening.

'_Most Popular Student: Troy Bolton' _everyone waited for pictures of Troy to come up on the screen but they never came. Instead, a video came on. Loud grunts and moans filled the gym as a video of what looked like two figures having sex came on. Troy immediately tensed up, not realising how tight his grip on Taylor had become. It was almost as if he was stopping her if she tried to get away. The rest of the gang looked away as Taylor's eyebrows furrowed together. Taylor immediately recognised the grunts as Troy's and the blonde hair as Casey's. She prayed with everything within her that that video was from back when Casey and Troy were just bed buddies but her fears were confirmed when she sneaked a look at the date that was written on the bottom right corner of the video.

Everything after that was a blur.

The video stopped and Casey took the microphone, her eyes locking with Taylor. "Don't say I didn't warn you." Taylor blinked back the tears that had welled up in her eyes and turned towards the rest of the group, all eyes were on her.

"Excuse me." She spoke softly. Her vision was blurred but she could still see the sadness that resided in Troy's blue orbs but at that point she didn't care. She couldn't even pin point her emotions. Was she angry? Was she upset? Did she feel stupid? Did she actually have a reason to be mad? He had cheated way back and he'd already apologised for leaving her.

But he'd cheated on her.

That sentence repeated in her head as she ran out of East High. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs once she'd reached out front, bending down to remove her shoes. She knew that any moment, Troy would be behind her. She knew he'd follow her. But at that moment he wasn't there so she took the time to release whatever emotion she thought best described her at that moment.

It turned out to be anger.

She hauled her heels out into the dark, not caring about where they landed. He had cheated on her. _And he had lied to her about the reason why he left. _Why didn't he just tell her that he cheated when he apologized for leaving? Sure she would've been mad... but not as mad as she was now.

"Taylor." His voice sounded broken. As if he didn't want to hear her reaction to the revelation that he had cheated. "If you just let me explain-." He approached her gingerly, reaching out to touch her hand. She spun around quickly and openly glared at Troy.

"Yes, your ass is going to explain. You are going to explain what the _fuck_ that video was about to me at my house. My mother took Aries to her house so you can talk there. I don't want you to leave _anything_ out Troy. I mean it." Her voice was so harsh and sharp that it made Troy flinch. He hated her tone of voice at the moment. They said nothing as Taylor led the way back to Troy's car. Before Troy opened the door for her, he turned to face her, fixing her with a hard stare.

"Remember the promise, Tay. Please." Taylor looked away to hide the tears, but Troy just took her face into his hands and kissed her, pouring all the love he had for her into it. He couldn't lose her. Not after he'd just gotten her back. Taylor was the one to pull back, lowering her head and removing his hands from her face. "Please." He pleaded, not caring about how weak it made him look.

"We'll see, Troy. We'll see." She opened the passenger side door herself and slipped in, closing the door again and strapping herself in. Troy leaned against the door and tilted his head back, groaning at the situation he'd just gotten himself into. Why hadn't he had just been honest with Taylor when they got back together? Now he was on the verge of losing his child and the love of his life. At that moment, he decided he wasn't going to let that happen. He'd explain what happened between Casey and him, he'd allow Taylor to be angry but the one thing he wasn't going to sit back and allow was Taylor leaving him.

No fucking way.

**Woohoo, finally got that chapter out. Next chapter will be Taylor and Troy's conversation and Casey and Marcus' return. So stay tuned :D**

**R&R my lovelies**

**OriginallyImperfect**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'd started on my Bamon story but then I changed my mind and decided continuing this one. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, I absolutely LOVE you guys.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own anything apart from original characters and everyone's emotions.**

"Tay."

Without a word, Taylor exited the car and walked up to her door, opening it without waiting for Troy. She stepped in, turned on the lights and removed her earrings, throwing them and her purse on the table beside her. "Baby, where are your shoes?" His warm breath. The tremble in his voice. His voice. His voice behind her almost made her want to slap him. At this moment in time, all she could think about was wrapping her manicured fingers around his neck and squeezing it. Choosing to ignore him, she began to make her way into the living room. "Baby?" When his hand touched her fingers, those same fingers she kept fantasizing about squeezing his neck with, she jumped back, not realising how much her actions wounded him.

"Don't call me baby, Troy. Right now, you've lost the ability to call me that. Whether you can continue calling me that depends on what you say within the next few minutes Troy so," she sighed and sat down on one end of the sofa, "start explaining." Troy scratched the back of his neck and sat down next to Taylor, moving away as soon as she flinched.

"I don't know where to begin."

"The beginning is the best place to start. How about telling me what the hell happened when you left for California?" Troy looked away as he removed his blazer jacket.

This was going to be a long night.

"I really don't want to go through everything thoroughly, Tay."

"Well tough luck, you have to." The firmness in her voice warned him that she wasn't playing.

"Ok, ok. After I'd left for California, I really was truly missing you like hell. 2 whole weeks passed and I couldn't get you out of my mind. Even though we talked like every day, that wasn't enough for me. Another few days passed and the guys I'd found out I'd be crashing with invited me out. That's where I met Casey. I got mad drunk and we wound up having sex. I felt so bad afterward, you don't understand." Troy snuck a look over at Taylor, whose eyes were no longer watching him. They were in fact glued to the floor.

"Don't lie to me." That took Troy by surprise.

"What?"

"Don't lie to me, Troy. If you felt so bad afterward, why didn't you stop?"

"Because I am a horny idiot who fucked up. That entire summer was spent just screwing Casey and I repeat – I fucked up. I'm sorry." He leaned over and reached for Taylor's chin, smiling when she allowed him to turn her head to face him.

"So what about that night you came back to me? Where you then abandoned me straight after? What happened then?" This time when Troy scooted closer to her, she didn't flinch.

"Long story short – I went to visit Casey and on the way back to Cali I decided to come and see you but after we, you know, I felt so bad and horrible at everything that I had done that I realised I wasn't right for you. You deserved so much better than me." Taylor stood up and covered her mouth with her hand whilst trying to hold back a sob. Troy followed suit and went towards her, staying quiet. "Taylor." When she turned around to face him, tears were making their way down her cheeks and her hand was trembling. "Ba- Tay." Correcting himself, he reached out his arms and tried to pull her into them.

"No! No Troy! Get off me!" she pushed him away and took a few steps back to create a distance between them. "You didn't even originally come to see me? I was... I was just a side thought after you had your fun with Casey?"

"No no no!" he attempted to close the distance between them, arms dropping when she put the space back by walking away. "You could never be a side thought. I'd wanted to see you for so long."

"Don't _lie_, damnit! You originally went to see Casey and on your way back that's when you decided to come to me. You know what? Fuck you, Troy. Honestly, fuck you. I thought that we'd finally gotten over what happened three years ago and we could move forward with a future together as a family but now with this?" As she was walking to the door, Troy grabbed her and pushed her up against their wall. She looked up and blinked a few times at his blazing blue eyes and how close he was to her. "Get off me, Troy. And get the hell out of my house."

"I'm not leaving Taylor. I am not going to lose you for another three years. I just got you back. Literally, I just got you back a week ago and I just found out I have a daughter. I'm not going anywhere. We are going to work through this shit but we are _not_ going to split up again. I love you Tay, you love me, don't do this because of a stupid ass mistake I made ages ago."

He could feel his heart crumble when he saw Taylor begin to shake and tears cascade from her beautifully done up eyes, instantly ruining her makeup. "Troy please, don't do this. Please. You don't understand-." He covered her mouth with his own, lightly flicking his tongue over her lips. After one more press to her lips, he pulled back.

"I'm going to Sharpay's house now and I'm giving you until Wednesday, Tay. You have three days to make up your mind. You know how sorry I am, but you should also know how much I love you. Don't let this ruin us, please. Don't- don't let me lose you and Ari." He softly brushed away her tears with the pad of his thumbs and leaned in, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. Her eyes shut at the connection. "I love you both." With a deep breath, he opened the door. "Three days." Were his last words before leaving the house.

Taylor couldn't contain it anymore and she finally allowed the tears to freely fall. She didn't know what to do. Troy was right, he had made the mistake ages ago and she'd already forgiven him for one mistake made at the same time so why couldn't she forgive him for this one?

He was definitely right about one thing; she loved him. But her anger and hurt was way too much for her at this moment. Perhaps it even overweighed the amount of love she had for him.

-.-

Taylor ran a hand through her hair, instantly messing it up and retreated to her bedroom. She quickly called her mother to check up on Ari and sighed when she hung up. She missed her daughter already. One look at her and she knew she'd be happy again. Unluckily for her, her daughter wasn't there so she'd have to settle for having a hot bath before bed. She had to go to work tomorrow and she was not looking forward to the day at all.

Suddenly, Taylor felt a heavy feeling at the pit of her stomach and before she knew it, she was bent over the toilet bowl spilling out the contents of everything she'd eaten that day. After a few more heaves, Taylor collapsed against the toilet, allowing her head to lie against the cool porcelain bowl. Just as she was getting comfortable and nearly falling asleep, Taylor's phone began to ring. "Hello?" she answered groggily, getting up to wipe her face.

"Are you okay, Tay? I've been trying to call you for a long time but I couldn't reach you. You should be proud of me, as soon as Troy walked through the door; I slapped him hard across his face! He looked so sad though, you must've said some serious stuff to him! Tay, you there? You sound kinda... weird. Oh, baby, your heart must be hurting. Look Taylor, I know you probably wouldn't expect me to be saying this right now but I think you need to forgive him. I know I know, I was the one who slapped him, but that was because I was still disgusted from seeing that video. As I was saying-."

"Sharpay, can you call me back later, I'm really not feeling well?"

"Oh Tay, you sound sick. Yes, I'll call you back later... you know what? I'll come visit you at work tomorrow and bring you lunch. Is that-?" Taylor didn't remember the rest of Sharpay's question. The last thing she remembered was her head falling back on the tiles as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

-.-

Thank goodness Taylor had woken up next to the toilet bowl. She was awoken by that same feeling in her stomach from yesterday and she had to reach over to empty whatever was left in her stomach. She checked the time on her phone and cursed when she realised she had 10 minutes to get ready. After stepping into the shower and allowing the steaming hot water to soothe her aching body. Although she tried to stop them, her thoughts seemed to be all about Troy. She truly did love him but watching that video and hearing about his affair made her heart ache. She wanted to hate him but she knew she couldn't. To be honest, she didn't want to see him or hear from him for the next three days whilst she made up her mind on what to do.

She finished up her shower and decided to wear a navy pantsuit paired with a ruffled white blouse and her patent black platform court heels. Before she left, she called her mother again letting her know she'd be there to pick up Ari around 6 but when her mother answered, there was a slight problem.

-.-

Troy grunted as he threw the ball, cursing when he missed. Again. He'd been out in Zeke's backyard practicing his shots so he'd be ready when he returned to LA on Wednesday but he's been missing each and every shot since he'd came outside. He blamed it on Taylor.

He couldn't focus when he knew she was contemplating ending things between them. Troy wanted to calm his thoughts and think that she wasn't that hurt by his actions to end them once and for all. He prayed that she wouldn't. So that's why he'd given her three days. He was leaving for LA in three days and before he left he was going to make sure that Taylor and he were still together. He definitely wasn't going to lose Ari.

Troy was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by the ringing of his cell. Reaching for it, he smiled when he saw the caller ID and thanked God. "Tay, I'm so glad you called, I was thinking about you and-."

"Don't misinterpret this call Troy," she answered wearily, "I need a favour. My mother can't watch Aries today while I'm at work, so can you-."

"You don't have to ask, baby, that's my daughter, of course I will. Where does your mom live?" Troy had already jogged upstairs to go and change into jeans and grab his jacket.

"Troy..." she warned at his endearment, not missing how her palms became moist when the word left his lips and how there was a sudden throb between her legs.

Troy didn't understand the warning till a second later. "Right, I'm sorry. Force of habit." Taylor didn't say anything else, she just gave him the address and was about to hang up. "Taylor... have you thought about it, yet?"

"No, Troy. I have to go; I'll be there to pick up Ari at 6. Thanks again."

"... I lov-." She'd hung up before he had a chance to finish the sentence. Troy sighed and decided that he was going to have to be patient with Taylor until she made her decision. Just as he'd grabbed his keys, a knock sounded at the door. Since Sharpay, Zeke, Chad and Gabriella were all out – Troy was not invited -, he didn't know who it could be. When Troy finally opened the door, his face dropped then twisted in anger.

"I knew you'd be here. Listen, we need to talk."

Casey pulled her blonde hair to the side as she sashayed in, making herself comfortable on the sofa as Troy held onto the doorknob so tight that his knuckles were turning white.

"I won't bite, babe... Unless you want me to." She sent him a wink and Troy knew that it would take everything within him not to kill her.

-.-

"Wow, Tay, what is wrong? You look like death." Blair chided, strolling into her office later on that day. She scowled at him as she handed him his cup of coffee.

"Thanks, Blair. That was the exact look I was going for." He just chuckled at her as she continued to work. Taylor didn't even notice the way Blair's eyes lingered on her for a second too long for them to be deemed friends. "Hey, I was looking over the stock report and-." As soon as she looked up, Blair pretended to be smirking at her. "This isn't funny, Blair."

"On the contrary my dear, I believe it is. Are you ill or something?" She walked towards him and reached for his hand, placing it on her forehead. "You don't have a temperature. What's wrong?"

She sighed and removed his hand. "I don't know. I've just been throwing up a lot since last night and all this morning. I think it was something I ate at the reunion."

"Ah yes. I forgot to ask about that. How was it?" Blair's eyebrow rose at the look of pain that passed Taylor's features. "You know what; we can talk about that later. What is it you were saying about the stock report?"

"Thanks and erm," she turned around to grab the manila file and Blair's gaze fell to her perfectly round bottom, darting back up when she turned back around. "I was looking over the stock report of MJIN and their income statement and cash flow summary doesn't quite add up. I didn't know whether to-." Taylor was stopped when that familiar feeling returned. "Excuse me." She raced as fast as she could into Blair's office and his private bathroom, managing to make it in time to the sink. She felt someone gently pull her hair away from her face and hand her a wipe. "Thanks." She straightened and stared at herself in the mirror. "Must be some bug, huh."

"Or you could be pregnant." Blair stated, staring at her in the mirror and not breaking his stare when Taylor glared at him.

"No that can't be it. Troy and I used protection..." realisation seemed to dawn on her. "Every other time."

"Miss McKessie, you have a visitor." The department receptionist called out from Taylor's office. Taylor sighed and scrambled to get herself cleaned up.

"That's probably Sharpay, she brought lunch. Thanks Blair, again." Blair didn't say anything, only nodded and allowed her to leave. "I am so hoping that you brought some chicken chow mein right now. I need a little Chinese pick me up, girl, believe me." Taylor finally looked up and suddenly stopped walking and chatting when she realised who was there.

"Marcus."

"Damn, you look so good still, Tay."

Taylor suddenly felt nauseous and this time it wasn't caused by her apparent pregnancy...

**FINALLY GOT THAT OUT. Wow. Hope you guys like that and sorry for any mistakes**

**I don't know if MJIN is an actually company, so I made that up. Still, R&R **


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